


Eyes Like Death

by Reflections



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Blood, Dad Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Dad Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Developing Relationship, Dogs, Human Zenyatta, Jesse McCree plays the guitar, Loss of Limbs, M/M, OC Enemies, Off Screen relationship building, Oni Genji Shimada, Oni Hanzo Shimada, Violence, feelings are hard, so is tagging, they drink a lot of tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 17:17:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 58,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14061663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reflections/pseuds/Reflections
Summary: Jesse McCree has gotten himself into a lot of trouble in the 37 short years he has been alive. As one of the minorities of the population, the world seems like it's against him. As a "cursed" person he has an ability that no one else on this world has, the ability to see when a person dies. This rears its ugly head when Deadlock goes to find him, and will destroy anyone in their way to do so.Severely injured, Jesse is saved by Hanzo Shimada, a person who is also cursed but in a different way. The Shimada family centuries ago made a deal with demons who guised themselves as Dragons, and suffer with the consequences of their pact with every generation. Whilst he doesn't remember, he made a deal with the Oni inside Hanzo. In exchange for a peaceful life, Jesse has to help the Shimada brothers unscramble the message their father left behind after his untimely death on how to conquer the Onis they host, and he deals with the Onis in the evenings when Hanzo and Genji ultimately give up control of their bodies to the demons in favor of sleep along with Tekhartha Zenyatta. The events that unfold in the weeks vary from heartwarming to horrifying as the secret and romances  unfold.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I can finally post this! I was participating in this year's McHanzo big bang. I was paired with the fantastic CloudJumperValka who has been fantastic in working with me and being so flexible. She had created art for this fic which I highly suggest checking out. 
> 
> Its been two years since i wrote a long fic and this is the first one after this that i have completed, so I admit I'm a bit rusty.
> 
> Here is the link to the fanart by the lovely CloudJumperValka  
> http://cloudjumpervalka.tumblr.com/post/172152130912/first-part-of-my-stuff-for-mcbigbang-i-was
> 
> http://cloudjumpervalka.tumblr.com/post/172152131787/second-part-of-stuff-for-mcbigbang-here-are

The sun beat down on an oddly hot fall day, people were in t-shirts and clothing that would be more suited for summer days then one so close to Halloween. Down the street the patio furniture sat out for the last few days before the inevitable time when they went into storage for the hellishly cold winter. A day that would be picturesque in every sense of the word.

“Shit,” the curse was muttered under his breath as he ducked around the corner and into the alley between two stores. Screams and chaos echoed in the air and crescendoed to an ear-piercing level in the confines of the narrow alleyway. Tables being turned up, cars halted in the streets, people taking cover from the shower of bullets raining from people in dark clothing. The noise and distractions helped him blend into the crowd and allowed him to hide from the hell raisers; the pack of gangly gunmen were after him after all, well what ‘gift’ he possessed really. Out of everyone he regretted associating himself with, the ones that were going after him are the ones, people who would kill innocent civilians, and ones he thought he was done with a long time ago, Deadlock. 

Even if there were sirens in the distance he wouldn’t be able to hear them over the gunshots and screaming of people. Jesse could feel a migraine setting in as his vision swam with many numbers, dates over everyone’s heads; some people would die today, others to live another day, the numbers said it all. 

There was no time to worry about that now, he had to get out of the area. He scooted through the narrow gap sideways, his spurs occasionally scuffing against the brick siding of the store behind him. In such a narrow space he could only pray to not attract the attention of anyone, because if he did it would be a struggle to avoid any bullets headed his way. The cacophony of screams and bullet shots still had his skin crawling in anticipation as time seemed to slow drastically, and every side step felt like it was hours in the making. He was used to this though, and could only pick up his speed till he made it out onto another street. The chaos was starting to consume the whole block, this wasn’t good at all. 

A loud and familiar sound of a gun echoed nearby and the brick beside him exploded with dust and bits of brick from the bullet’s impact. A shotgun, why in the hell did they have a shotgun? There are crowds of people around, don’t they care about the public? Stupid question, he knew they didn’t. The noises of cars, people, guns started up again, and the gunshots on the other street slowly got louder. Jesse darted from the entrance of the alleyway to take cover in the doorway of a store.

“Crazy assholes,” Jesse muttered and finally had time to reload his gun, for a moment not caring what strangers thought. Reloading gave him a quick moment to observe his surroundings. Most of the patio furniture from the cafe up ahead had the tables overturned, and a handful of people hid behind the various metal tables. Just from a glance it looked like pretty durable furniture, and it would take a few good close range blasts to get through them. 

“Any of ya’ freaks that get in the way will get your heads turned into confetti. Hell even ya’ stupid people who live among the freaks. Stay still as I look for our person and no one else will get hurt.” A gravelly voice came from down the street. McCree cussed under his breath as he snapped the chambers back into place. A deadlock person actually using reason, must be a higher ranking man. “Don’t get in the way,” the man snarled, and a frantic person who just ran past his doorway ended up getting a bullet to the back of the leg. He crashed to the cement, momentum skidding him a few feet further up the walk and left a thin skid of red in his wake. The numbers that counted down above the stranger’s head did so rapidly, this being the last day of his life, the sight made him a bit queasy. 

He had to take the opportunity with the faintest clicks of the gun being reloaded. He went closer to the gunman and caught his attention, but ducked behind a table before the deadlock agent could fire off his shot. The table took a majority of the impact, the rest of the pellets going just over his head and the stranger’s, who was hiding behind the table before him. 

“I’m sorry for this, but we’re going to get a lot of attention from this gunman. I have this under control though, once he goes down you can go to better cover.” McCree said quietly and glanced around the edge of the table, his gun at the ready at all times, and his trigger finger almost itched in anticipation of pulling the trigger. 

“So they’re after you then I assume.” The stranger shot him an unreadable look, but all Jesse could do was nod. 

“Sadly,” he replied gruffly and cringed as the metal table twinged with another shot, heavy footsteps getting closer and closer to their table. He was quick to expose himself to half cover and let off a quick aimed shot. A grunt of pain was heard, the clatter of a dropped gun was loud on the pavement, and before Jesse knew he was moving he was sprinting over to the gunman. 

He got shot a miss-aimed bullet into the assailant's arm. His gun remained firmly in his right hand as he kicked the shotgun into the street. He wasn’t prepared for the punch he would receive right in the throat. This fucker was quick to the draw and Jesse reeled away with a painful clench in his throat. He pulled his hand up to try and get another shot off, but before his thumb could even get to the hammer a hand was gripping his wrist and twisting it to see if he would let his grip on the gun go. This guy had to have a ‘gift’ as well, either that or some sort of training if he was this good in defending himself in close combat. 

“So you came to play cowboy, too bad this will be your last rodeo. Say goodbye to your freedom.” The rancid breath of the gunman almost had Jesse reeling away instead of the pain. The threat was very real though, a threat to have his freedom taken away again, to be a prisoner due to something he couldn’t help, and he’d be damned if he’d let that happen again. 

“Like hell, it’s about time you met the undertaker.” The date over the man’s head twitched, he could see it from his peripheral. The man knew that he was cursed and of his gift, good, he could make this work. Jesse changed how he was standing and put a bit more effort in controlling his wrist, hopefully a distraction enough to do what he hoped. He suddenly yanked his gun arm down and the stranger followed to keep the gun away from him, and that is exactly what he wanted. He kicked the man straight in the gut before using his free hand to push the shoulder the opposite way of where it wanted to go. Hopefully taking this arm out of commission would make the kill easier than it has been so far. Yet there was no pop, just a sudden tug on his wrist as the stranger was shoved backwards from his push, fuck. 

“Cocky mother fucker, all you ‘cursed’ people are the same.” The slur was throw at him, but didn’t bug him. This was like a stand off, and Jesse didn’t like the odds of this as it went on for longer and longer. 

“Are we now?” A new yet vague familiar voice piped up, and Jesse didn’t have time to look over before a fist was thrown and the guman’s head whipped back from a punch to the face. The stranger from the table was helping him, and was currently digging his fingers into the arm tucked to the gunman’s side. The blood oozing out of the wound do to the disturbance of it. “I’d say you’re no different than us.” 

Even with the distraction the hand held steady to the gun, and McCree tried to use his weight to pull the gunman off kilter as he pulled his wounded arm away from new opponent with a bellow of anger and pain. His weight got the gunman to take a step away from the shorter stranger. A crack in his wrist had him closing his eyes and a whimper of pain threatened to spill from this throat. His wrist was giving out due to the grip, and the gun was slowly turning towards the stranger. 

The regret he knew he’d be feeling later about the other victims that would fall to his past mistakes came crashing down on him all at once at the threat of another death taking place in front of his eyes. The date over the stranger’s head flickered constantly, he couldn’t read it. Jesse heard the pulling back of the hammer and he blocked the barrel with his left arm before the bullet went off and blew straight through his elbow. At this distance he knew the gun would jam, the peacekeeper wasn’t for point blank, the bullets in the chamber moving forward so they couldn’t be shot off. That wasn’t his concern as he let go of the gun and let it hit the cement before he kicked it behind him. He desperately tried to hold his arm to his side to stop the bleeding, his other arm occupied in the gunman’s grip. The pain made his vision blurry even with punches being delivered to his torso, his other arm let go as he cradled his injured arm as he bled all over his clothes. Where was the short stranger?

His vision was starting to black at the edges, pain throbbing down his left side as tears of pain streaked down his cheeks, his body numb to the rest of the hits he took. Until he realized that he wasn’t being hit. A gentle hand urged his right shoulder up slightly from his knelt over position. 

“Stay awake,” the stranger urged and knelt down to his level. “I need you to stay conscious, tell me your name.” The voice of the stranger was almost fading, he looked up at the striking features of the other male. He was fiddling with something though, it looked to be cloth in his hands. He was man slowly pried his arm away from where it was against his torso so he could wrap some stiff fabric around it. He hissed in pain and bowed his head in pain as it was tied tightly around the wound.

“Jesse,” he hissed out quietly and spotted the blurry features of a phone in his hand. 

“Zen, hurry up, he’s dying.” Is that what this was? This feeling that the whole world was pressing him closer to the ground. “Jesse, I need you to stay awake, tell me a story.” His mind reeled for a story, any story, but the heavy weights of exhaustion weighed on his mind, and the one time Jesse McCree needs to keep talking he can’t think of anything to say. Usually he was teased for his inability to not stop talking. 

A small chuckle rumbled from him, and he shook his head slightly, but it hurt so he stopped after one shake. “I can’t think of anything to say darlin’.” He then looked up at him again. “Too bad I can’t see my own date, I wonder if this is what death feels like.”

“Don’t think like that,” the reply was immediate and the stranger gripped his head in a light hold. “Just look at me then and say whatever comes to mind.”

“Usually talking is pretty easy for me, never was pegged for the shy type. I suppose bleeding to death will do that.” He let out a weak chuckle, but let it die as quickly as it came, it was too much energy to do that.

“I usually wouldn’t have you speaking, but i have a friend close by who is coming from a block or two over.”

“There are more on the other side of the block, gunman.” He commented feeling exhaustion drag at his limbs. 

“I can hear the noise, but there are police coming to.” His vision started to fade black and he tried to keep his eyes on those deep brown ones. “Jesse, you there?” The stranger’s face morphed to extreme concern as a hand was removed from his face and to his throat. 

His lips wouldn’t cooperate, all that left his throat was a tired “Mhmm,” or so he thought, but he doesn’t remember anything past then. That’s probably when he blacked out from blood loss.


	2. Chapter 2

Through the fog of waking up, three things stood out to him: One, he wasn’t in as much pain as he thought he would be; two, over the beeping of the machines he could hear the dull murmur of several voices; three, he didn’t know where in the hell he was. He opened his eyes and had to blink a few times so his vision would clear up. He was greeted by white walls, grey bed railings, and various other muted colors to ‘brighten up’ the room. Room? He looked around and saw himself on one side of a big room alone and on the far side two more people resting, but one person’s date was a sharp, alarming red. They would die soon, real soon. 

“Glad to see you awake Jesse, you’ve been out for a while.” A familiar voice piped up quietly. He looked over off to the side of the bed and saw a very familiar doctor standing there with a smile on her face. A smile came to his face too as he looked up at her. 

“Hey Ana, how are things goin’ for you?” He asked, his voice hoarse, raspy. She let out a hum and looked at his charts. 

“I’m doing fine dear, better now that you’re awake.” She stated and scribbled something down as she looked at a machine above his head. “You’re going to have to call Gabriel once you get a chance, he’s pretty worried about you.”

Of course Gabe would know, him and Ana have been friends for longer than he has been alive. He nodded slightly and glanced up at her, before across the room again. “That patient by the window is very close,” he said in hushed whisper. The comment caused the elder lady to look over her shoulder. 

“How much time?”

“Five minutes twenty-four seconds, and counting.” He replied and his eyes darted back up to her. She set her clipboard down and patted him lightly on the shoulder, but then promptly checked her watch. She then walked to the door and peeked her head outside the it. There was murmurs of conversation, but none that he could pick up from where he was. The conversation was short and he watched as Ana came back in the room soon followed by three other men. The conversation was already finished by the time they came in, but it seemed like he was the target of attention. 

“When did he wake up?” A man with green hair asked and jabbed a thumb in his direction. His voice was a bit too loud and it echoed in the room. He had an air about him of confidence and ease, his eyes twinkled mischeviously.

“About a minute ago so he hasn’t been awake long, but you should also tone it down Genji, people are asleep.” Ana replied and picked back up her clipboard. 

“You are either brave, or really stupid.” The comment came from the longer haired man, a face he recognized almost instantly. It was the same man that he took the bullet for, the absolutely stunning man who was on the street. A smile came to his lips and he shrugged in reply, but it was a small one due to a twinge of pain that ran up his left shoulder. 

“Don’t think that will phase him, he gets that often.” Ana commented and hung the clipboard back at the end of the bed. “He’s been like this all his life, but it’s just now that he’s lost anything significant.”

Lost anything significant? That statement got Jesse’s attention and he looked down at himself. Lifting the blanket and saw that everything was there, then he looked to his left arm and saw the problem. 

“Fuck,” He muttered and looked at the stump where the rest of his arm would have extended from. “I got the bullet at the wrong part of my arm.” He grumbled and rested his head back. Maybe it was the medication that caused it not to hit him fully, but this reaction could be the extent of how fully it does hit him. 

“That’s a pretty calm reaction from a man who just lost his arm.” The man with the dyed hair, Genji, commented and stood by the other man. 

“Could be the meds,” Jesse commented and looked over at the two men. “I never did introduce myself did I? The name’s Jesse.” He smiled slightly at the two, and would have offered his right hand, if he didn’t feel a cast on it. 

“We both know who you are, you introduced yourself back before you passed out. I am Hanzo.” The man from the street introduced himself and the person beside him leaned forward slightly and smiled. 

“I am Genji, Hanzo’s brother.” McCree smiled and nodded, he would have tipped his hat if it was on his head. He knew better though, Ana probably had it hanging somewhere in the room out of his reach. He wouldn’t need it in bed after all, and Ana had said that many times during his multiple hospital visits. Looking between the two he could see the similarities. Their eyes were the same deep dark brown and their cheekbones high, almost regal.

“I suppose you want to know what happened while you were out.” Ana commented and went to the end of the bed and picked up his charts again. Everyone’s gaze went to the elder and Jesse gave a smile and nodded. 

“In layman’s terms please,” he replied and Ana chuckled. 

“Of course, no doctor would act as risky as you do on a regular basis.” Ana teased before casting her eyes down at the charts. “The main thing was trying to save your arm, which you can see we couldn’t manage due to how damaged the joint was. The nerves were spared so we can get you a prosthetic in a few weeks time if we ask Torbjorn to put a rush on it. Whilst trying to save your arm you had already lost too much blood, and we didn’t have any of your blood type in the building. We didn’t have time to ask anyone to ship some out here, so we ended up asking Hanzo for some blood since his type is O negative. Why we asked Hanzo is because O negative is a universal blood type and you have B negative blood.” Ana looked up from the charts and to Jesse. “You are bound to make a full recovery though.”

“Thank you Ana,” he replied with a smile on his face as she set his clipboard aside and went about doing other things. He looked at the two brothers and couldn’t help but glance up slightly above their heads. Their dates flickered intensely between many different dates. His eyebrows furrowed and he blinked a few times before looking back at the brothers. He’d only seen date flickering that intense either on someone debating their options, or his adopted Dad Gabriel,He only saw that on Gabriel because his curse rendered him partly immortal. 

The brothers looked at him with two very different emotions. Hanzo was curious,cautious, it gleamed in his eyes, but his expression and posture almost concealed it; Genji on the other hand didn’t bother to hide his curiosity, letting it show unabashedly. Jesse wasn’t saved in the most ideal circumstances, and they probably are very curious on why Deadlock was looking for him. Killing people to find him. That thought made his stomach twist with many emotions, but mainly deep regret. “I suppose you have some questions about all that went on.” He started and folded his casted hand into his lap, “You can ask away, but only if I can ask a few questions in return.”

They both seemed caught slightly off guard by his comment, and they looked at each other for a few long seconds. “Seems fair,” Hanzo supplied and looked back at Jesse. With his remaining hand, Jesse gestured to the chairs on the opposite wall. 

“Take a seat, this conversation could last a while.” If everyone gets the information they want that is, but more often than not it doesn’t work out that way. One way or another one of them will have to withhold information for god knows what reason. 

“Let's get the most obvious question out of the way then,” Genji commented as he wheeled a chair over to the bedside for himself. “Why are deadlock so desperate to get after you that they will kill people for you?” The gazes were heavy on him and anyone else would have crumpled under such intense gazes, but Gabriel had long taught him not to crumble under such a thing. His gaze went from the brothers over to the guy across the room where Ana was. She had her back to the patient whose timer counted down his last seconds. 

32 seconds. “I got messed up with them when I was younger,” he started and looked back to the brothers. “Naturally with the curse I have they found out about it pretty quick that I had it. Back then I didn’t know too much about keeping my mouth shut about it since I lived with my family on a farm. They didn’t catch on, well my grandmother did, but no one else did.” He glanced back at the person, 17 seconds. “It’s easier to show y’all then explain it, so let me show ya’.” 12 seconds.

He pointed in the direction of the man across the room. “You both see the man by the window, the one with the yellow blanket?” 7 seconds. He saw a nod from Genji when he glanced back. 6 seconds. “He’s gonna flat line, in 3...2...1.” As he hit that last second a cacophony of noises started up on that side of the room, and Ana was quick to get started on him. The unnamed male who had been standing back till now also seemed alarmed by this and moved quickly across the room to assist Ana. Jesse looked back to the brothers and saw their startled expressions. 

“What did you do?” Genji accused and looked over at the bedridden male. 

“I didn’t do anything,” Jesse insisted and pointed over to that side of the room. “It’s what nature did.” He ran his hand over the blanket over and over again, nervous habit. “I can see the countdown of when people die, dates of sorts if you want to call it that.” He explained and looked Genji straight in the eye. 

“Your eyes were black when you turned back to face us, what was that about?” Hanzo inquired. 

“Black?” He muttered and looked at the other male with a look only explained as confusion. “That’s never been a side effect before…” he trailed off and looked around for a mirror. 

“They’re back to normal now,” Hanzo commented and leaned back in his chair. “Now that we’ve got our answer, I suppose you can ask a question in return.” His arms were crossed and he seemed almost guarded against any question that could come his way. 

Jesse had to think back to the whole encounter, and to something that caught his attention. “It seems only fair that it go like that.” He agreed with what Hanzo had replied and he glanced over at the other patient who Ana was working on. The date didn’t flair back to life, his gut twisted, but he didn’t tell Ana yet in hopes that she could get some sort of time resparked. 

“Back when you went to help me with the gunman, you commented that you were too a person with a curse. It seems only fair to trade the taboo secrets since we’re on that topic. You know about mine and I’m a tad curious on what yours may be.” At the question the brothers shared an unreadable luck for a split second before diverting their attention back to Jesse. 

“It’s a long story, but if you want we can shorten it.”

“I don’t mind either version, do what you’re most comfortable with.” Jesse encouraged with a small smile. There was a small pause and Hanzo shifting his weight, their eyes met for a brief second before Hanzo looked away. 

“The curse I-,” a look from Genji caused Hanzo to pause for a moment before he rolled his eyes. “-we have is different than most other ‘cursed’ people. Many centuries ago our family had a chance to make a deal, a pact of sorts, with some strong dragon spirits, and who would deny the offer if it was presented to you? Our ancestors made a deal with these dragon spirits, that if they would led our family their power in a way they saw fit, that they would devote our ancestors for years to come. Only to find out after the deal was made that the dragons were demons. Our family has a long bloodline of male children being born, and the male is the prefered vessel for these demons, hence their interest in our family. Our curse is being possessed by these demons, but we are trained from a young age to try and keep a reign on them while we are awake.” 

The explanation has Jesse speechless as he stares at the two almost blankly for a moment. His mind worked to come up with something to say, but it ended up just spilling unceremoniously from his lips. “Well I suppose that is a different type a’ curse.” He then paused at what he said and tried to gesture with his left hand, and then remembered it wasn’t there. A sigh of exasperation left his lips and he shook his head. “Sorry, didn’t mean to say it that way.”

“No offense taken,” Hanzo replied and Genji chuckled in the background. 

“We’ve heard that before,” Genji piped in. The symphony of distorted noises on the other end of the room stopped and drew all of their attention. Ana and the unknown male were shutting off machines, the date stark and black over the patient’s head. 

“Time of death 2:16pm,” Jesse muttered to himself and tore his gaze away to look at his hands...hand. That would take some getting use to. 

“My next question is very important though,” Hanzo said and instantly drug his attention from diving into depressed thoughts. 

“Go ‘head and shoot.”

“What is the last thing you remember back on the streets? What was the last thing you or I said that you can recall?” The question was admittedly an odd one, and caused Jesse to furrow his eyebrows. Why was this important? He has to think back through the blackness back to something he was already trying to block out of his mind. 

“Any of ya’ freaks that get in the way will get your heads turned into confetti.” Gunshots, blood, all the numbers swimming in his vision.“So they’re after you then I assume.” Innocent people in the line of fire because Mama Deadlock wanted him back after Reyes took him away. “So you came to play cowboy, too bad this will be your last rodeo. Say goodbye to your freedom.” His family taken away by Mama Deadlock and her kid because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut as a child. “Cocky mother fucker, all you ‘cursed’ people are the same.” He was renowned for something he couldn’t help, something he wanted to take away if he could. “I need you to stay conscious, tell me your name.” Someone who helped who really didn’t need to. “Too bad I can’t see my own date, I wonder if this is what death feels like.” Even his own words haunt him, maybe he should have died. “Jesse, you there?” Is there anything past that? What other horrors does his mind hide? 

“Jesse,” there was faster beeping in the background, his chest burned. 

“Listen here lil’ Joel, know that when ya’ join Deadlock you can’t back out. It’s either this gang or death for the gang, but know that you hold a spot near and dear to my heart Joel because you’re Mama’s lil’ helper, right?” Being the weak one at such a young age, getting pushed around, starved, used, tainting the his mind in a dog eat dog world. In a world like that, your curse is a gift. Even with Mama’s blessing she couldn’t help him with what happened behind her back. 

“Jesse!” The bright lights of the hospital came back, the beeping was his own heart monitor. He took a shuddering breath as his head whipped up to look straight into the face of Ana. Genji had stood up from his seat and was at the edge of the bed concern on his face along with everyone but Hanzo, who kept a collected facade. The sudden movement seemed to surprise the strangers, but the elder woman was use to such things happening. His mind still reeled with the memories and it took him a moment to catch up on what happened. 

“Aw hell,” he muttered and let his head flop back against the pillow. His whole body had a slight quiver to it and he tried to take deep breaths, to calm down. “Sorry ‘bout that, it happens from time ta’ time. The last thing I remember is you asking if I was there. Apparently I’m there and not here.” He tried a joke, but it fell dry. Even his speech pattern felt jittery after that, he had to anchor himself like he had a few times before. 

“So you don’t remember any of our conversation after that?” Hanzo asked a bit gentler, more hesitant. All he could muster was a shake of the head. 

“Naw, my mind goes blank from there.” His heartbeat started to settle, but he still showed signs. Ana rechecked his vitals, but this time didn’t put anything in his IV. A good sign he figured.

“Hanzo, maybe you should tell him a bit later when he’s calmed down a bit.” The unnamed male suggested, his voice gentle, soft, soothing. 

“Even if I wait,” Hanzo paused and glanced over to Jesse, his eyebrows pinched almost as if he was in pain, but no other words came from his mouth, a silent understanding. The stranger rubbed the bag of his neck with a slender hand and sighed, but seemed to nod in agreement. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but may I ask what your name is? You’re the only one I don’t know.” The question had a change of tone, and the other male looked over and smiled at him. 

“Of course, that is rude of me not to introduce myself earlier. I’m Tekhartha Zenyatta, I work here at the hospital and live with Genji and Hanzo.” He gestured over to the brothers. Right away Jesse could tell that Zenyatta was lankier than the brothers, his accent telling Jesse he was from somewhere else initially, but he was gentle when speaking. Zenyatta was shorter than Genji but taller than Hanzo, who seemed to be the shortest of the three. His skin was tan with nine perfect circles tattooed onto his forehead, the rest of his head remained bald. 

“Our handler,” Genji joked and grinned over at Zenyatta. The lankier male only rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. 

“Nice ta’ meet ya’,” Jesse replied and almost made the motion of tipping his hat that wasn’t there. His attention then went to Hanzo. “I hope it ain’t rude, but why is it important that I didn’t remember the conversation after?” Something stirred in his gut that he could only as unease. 

Hanzo hesitated for a moment , not meeting his eyes. “You made a deal with the devil I host while you were injured. “For a life no longer on the run, you will help me unscramble a message our dead father left us, and cure some curiosity; Something that could help us tackle the demon problem.” Hanzo’s eyes met his, and he froze in place. 

He made a deal with the devil. 

“Then why can’t I remember the deal?” The question made Hanzo tense, but only a trained eye could catch the slight twitching action. 

“My demon manipulated it so you can’t remember. I can’t help that, I’m sorry. The deal was the only reason I could also donate blood to you.”

“A blood contract,” Jesse muttered and ran a hand the best he could through his hair. “Well,” he sighed, “lets see how it goes.”

For a moment shock passed over Hanzo’s face. “Aren’t you mad, shocked, furious?” This was the first seemingly random question out of Hanzo. Jesse just grinned at the question and hummed. 

“Well when your father is a cursed man and can be a giant smoke monster you tend to just accept things. Some things are out of your reach and there is nothing you can do but go with the flow.” He replied and couldn’t help but vaguely gesture with his casted hand. 

“Wait, your dad is Reyes?” Genji asked and leaned forward a bit with an almost sly smile on his face. 

“Of course, can’t you see the stubbornness?” Ana replied from across the room and Jesse rolled his eyes as a the comment brought a few chuckles from the guests. 

“He’s my adoptive father, took me in during a hard time in my life.” Jesse corrected. After that comment there was a long silence with enough unspoken tension for it to almost be tangible. This had happened many times before, and Jesse knew that they didn’t mean any harm by the silence, but didn’t know what to say. They didn’t know him too well after all. 

“Well that is good to hear even with what may have happened to you in the past.” Zenyatta broke the silence and caught McCree slightly off guard. He couldn’t help but smile slightly and look at the other. 

“It is,” he agreed and looked down at the third male before down at his casted hand. The familiar ringing of a phone cut off what he was about to say and he looked up from his blanket and looked around for his phone. Off to the left side of the table was his wallet and two sets of keys, and on the other table was various medical supplies. 

“Speaking of Gabriel,” Ana commented and walked over to his bed, setting the phone in his lap before she left the room, probably going to go grab something or make a call. Jesse didn’t worry about that though, instead he fumbled with his phone in his one casted hand, and managed to answer on the last ring. 

“Hey,” he greeted albeit weakly. The pulled the phone slightly away from his ear anticipating a lot of angry Spanish, but instead got a soft sigh. Odd. 

“Glad to hear that you’re awake Jesse,” the response came, and the phone was back flush against his cheek. 

If that comment didn’t make him feel like an ass, he didn’t know what would. “I’m glad to, honestly didn’t expect of of what happened to happen.”

“Didn’t even know Deadlock would go this far north, must be desperate.” His father added and Jesse couldn’t help but nod solemnly in agreement. 

“If the date is the same, Mama D is come to her due soon.” He commented and glanced at his visitors, they wouldn’t be able to tell what he was saying unless they spoke Spanish. “She probably wants me back to make sure that doesn’t happen. She might send her son after me eventually since her other party failed. 

“Catastrophically at that, all the men she sent are either dead for a hole in their chest or in jail.” 

“A hole?” Jesse inquires and his eyebrows draw together in confusion. “It wasn’t me who did that, maybe the cops did it, a stand off.”

“No, they found the men either fleeing or already dead upon the scene. Someone must have had great luck or aim to get all of them straight through the hearts.” A small shiver went up his spine and his gaze went over to the other men in the room, but his eyes lingered on Hanzo. 

“Well, with people like us in the world, there is no doubt going to be people who can do so.” He tore his eyes away from Hanzo and back to focusing on a random spot in the room as he spoke, resisting the urge to walk around. Ana would probably scold him for it if he did. 

“That is very true,” Gabriel agreed and he could hear faintly over the phone Jack’s voice call something to his father. “I picked up your car yesterday, it will be here when you want to pick it up. Though I don’t doubt you have a few things you want to do before getting this piece of tin you call a car.”

“I do, I have things that I need to get in line before i retrieve my car, if you don’t mind keeping it there for a few days.” 

“Not at all, the driveway is big enough to park your car for a few days, just focus on recovering for a while, okay? There is no rush.” Gabriel reminded and Jesse rolled his eyes but smiled. 

“Yes dad, I’ve been hurt before, you know how it goes.”

“You get too antsy for your own good,” Gabriel commented with a tired sigh. “Just try to rest up a bit more this time as you heal.”

“No promises, I will talk to you later.”

“Talk to you later, love you.”

“Love you too.” And with that the other end cut off and Jesse set the phone in his lap. 

“So,” He started again, slipping back into English fluidly. “I believe it is my turn to ask you a question there Hanzo.” He commented with a smile on his face. Hanzo’s forehead was wrinkled and his eyebrows drawn together. 

“What is the question?” Hanzo inquired. 

“How much do you actually remember of what happened after where my memories stop?” The other seemed caught off guard for a question, his eyes widening the slightest bit, and he could almost seen his mind reeling in unspoken questions.


	3. Chapter 3

The days in the hospital went along tediously. Every day he could chat with Ana, Angela, or Zenyatta as he sat in the bed waiting for the biotic nanites to do their job in his system. Once in a while one or both of the Shimada brothers would come to chat, usually it was Genji, and they conversed often about random things. Gabriel and Jack never visited, never liked hospitals, and Jesse understood that much so he wasn’t torn over it.

Hanzo on the other hand, seemed to be the level headed brother, and visited the most out of the two. There were a variety of conversations exchanged, from hobbies, witty banter, to jokes, and childhood shenanagin stories. Neither of them crossed that unspoken boundary of questions and stories except when they talked about the contract. They had figured out between the both of them that at the point where they both blacked out that their spot had been found, and the demon inside of Hanzo was quick to take care of them. That memory didn’t stick out in his mind at all. 

Jesse actually found himself enjoying Hanzo’s company a lot, and saw the eldest Shimada relax around him, his shoulders not as tense, his gaze wasn’t as sharp and demanding, and he actually would laugh; Hanzo’s laugh was one of those that seemed to warm the air around him, and once in a while a snort would send him deeper into those laughing fits that made Jesse smile. Jesse hadn’t felt like this in a long time. The ease of a conversation never came as quick when he met someone new, but there was just this chemistry between them that helped them bond. What was once every other day visits became daily, so it seemed that Hanzo enjoyed their conversations as much as he did. 

Hanzo quickly grew to be his most frequent visitor. 

It wasn’t until a few nights into his stay that the monotony and overall good atmosphere was broken. It was in the later part of the evening, with Angela taking the night shift and was tending to something somewhere else in the hospital when his room door opened and shut quickly and with hardly any noise. Any sleepiness that lingered disappeared and he looked critically at the curtain that covered the door from his vision. 

“Hello?” He asked, his voice being absorbed the the cement walls. His eyes swept over the room critically, he was moved to a smaller room after he was awake for a day, and cleared of his critical status. He was glad to be in a smaller room, it almost felt like a controlled environment, away from other patients and the looming dates over their heads. He almost welcomed the bland, white walls over the other patients, almost. 

“So, you’re awake finally.” A voice came from his left, an unsettling disharmonic voice. A chill ran up his spine as he looked over and saw who must have entered his room so late in the evening. Though upon first glance he didn’t know if it was a who, or a what. On a closer inspection it looked a lot like the elder Shimada, but with many striking differences. Instead of those deep, dark eyes, they are a striking white and faintly glow, his skin a dark grey instead of its usual lively vibrance, and the date above his head was a sickly violet color instead of the usual red or black. 

“And I was beginnin’ ta’ wonder if those brothers were pulling my leg.” He spoke up realizing he was staring for a few seconds too long. The demon Hanzo didn’t seem perturbed by the stare, instead he almost seemed smug about it with how he leaned back in the chair pulled up by his bedside. 

“I’m afraid not,” the demon nonchalantly replied and sat up in his chair. “I have many questions about you Jesse McCree, or is it Joel?” The grey hand reached out towards Jesse’s face, he noticed the fingernails were longer, sharper, and instinctively he leaned away from them. That didn’t thwart the Demon’s attempts of brushing a few fingers along his cheek. “ I’m not sure anymore, but there have been people that have gone to hell cursing your name, the kid with the Devil’s eyes.

“How do you know that name?” The question was tense, his whole body seizing up, but his gaze held a different reaction, instead of fear it held heat. That caused the demon to raise his eyebrows and withdraw the hand. 

“Your name is yours no matter how many aliases you try to use to cover up your tracks.” He said the answer as if it was obvious and he was just a moron. “Though I can’t help but question why people underestimate such a curse.” The demon stated and stared straight at Jesse unabashedly. 

“I can’t answer that for ya’.” The reply came out as a sigh and Jesse tore his gaze away from the demon. “People underestimatin’ me is like people being afraid of you or callin’ it a fever dream.” Jesse should have been more afraid of the demon than he was, the back of his mind egged him to call for help or run from the supernatural creature, yet curiosity and pure stubbornness kept him from doing so. The demon wasn’t hurting anything after all.

“Not so much a fever dream as screaming in fear or pain.” The demon replied and Jesse rolled his eyes and snorted. 

“How comfortin’,” he replied and the demon snorted but smiled. 

“So when is this vessel going to d-” before the sentence was finished the light came through the doorway and a familiar figure stepped through the door. 

“Alright, Jesse is still healing, you aren’t allowed in here. He will be let out tomorrow, you can wait till then.” Angela ordered in a firm voice, catching Jesse off guard while the demon didn’t seem surprised in the slightest. Instead he let out an angry tisk noise and stood up abruptly, the chair screeching against the tile floor. 

“You’re interrupting something very important,” the demon growled and walked towards the door, towards Angela. 

“So are you,” she rebutted and didn’t move as the demon stalked towards her, “anything you do to him can severely put back the time he gets out of the hospital. You know that.” She finished up just as she was slammed into the wall. Jesse jumped in the bed as he heard Angela wheeze and saw her pushing, trying to get out of the grip. 

“I wouldn’t have done anything, he was cooperating up until you interrupted our conversation.” The demon stated with that low growl still in his voice, and he didn’t seem bothered by her actions, nor did he seem like he was letting go. 

He had to act fast. He looked around the bedside for anything he could throw at the demon and get him to let go of the doctor. All he saw was his phone, wallet, and hat. “Shit,” he hissed under his breath before he got up from the bed, a twinge of pain going through his ribcage and he stumbled as he got out of bed. The IV tube pulled taut in protest and Jesse was quick to remove it and walk towards the door. 

“You wanted the date of when Hanzo would die, didn’t you?” Jesse inquired as he used his right hand to pull the demon back slightly. That piercing white glare was directed to him, but he didn’t move. Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t, and frankly, he didn’t want to see the doc die tonight, even if her numbers were high and healthy. “You’ll have to let go of the doc before I even consider giving it to you. She did nothing wrong, didn’t interrupt anythin’.” He tried to soothe, he felt unsteady on his feet from being laid up for so long, but that was the only sort of wavering Jesse did. “That being said this conversation can be held any day, there is no need to rush things. It’s not like I won’t be with ya’ for a while, because that’s quite a finicky contract I don’t remember signin’ up for.”

The demon stared at Jesse silently for a few seconds too long before he let go of Angela. She leaned against the wall catching her breath as the demon turned to face him instead of her. 

“I do want to know the date when Hanzo Shimada will pass away, nor was it a question Jesse McCree.” The demon insisted and instead of crowding Angela now took to crowding him, but Jesse didn’t move nor waver under the intense pale gaze of demon Hanzo. 

“I reckon that the dates are mine ta’ tell if and when I’m ready, but it never ends well if I do tell people their dates.”

“It instills fear, knowing the date is slowly encroaching on them, and they don’t know what actions will cause them to kick the bucket sooner, or later. Constant nagging fear is instilled in them and they go crazy.” The demon replied back and stood a hare’s breath away from Jesse, staring at him. “In Hanzo’s case though, it is so I can prevent him from dying, keep him alive for longer.”

“So you aren’t Hanzo you admit, so if you aren’t, what do I call you?” This had been bothering Jesse, and he hoped the changing of topics would work. For a few too long moments neither of them moved and Jesse unconsciously held his breath. The demon let out a long humming sigh and took a step back away from Jesse. 

"Call me as you please, but may I warn you that if you call me anything unsightly that I will fight back with a vengeance." Instead of instilling fear, the threat caused a chuckle to bubble up and Jesse covered his mouth with his hand. 

"I'll have ta' think on what ta' call you there honey bee," he responded and glanced over at Angela as she looked at the both of them with thinly veiled caution. Jesse sidestepped the demon and made eye contact with her, trying to soothe her worry with a smile. "We're fine in here if you want to go and do other business ya' have." She didn't say anything, instead looked from Jesse to demon Hanzo, then back again. 

"Call me if you need anything, and know that visiting hours are done in an hour, and your IV will be fine out till then." That wasn't to Jesse, instead that was pointed towards the demon who didn't even acknowledge that she was even there, instead he kept his white eyes trained on Jesse and only mildly tilted his head towards where Angela was. Once Jesse gave her a confirming nod did she walk back out of the room and shut the door firmly behind herself. 

"Now where were we?" Jesse asked and walked back towards the bed. On the slowed trek back to the bed he stretched and made sure he milked all he could out of the small walk. His muscles felt stiff, sore, and weak as he walked towards the bed, and it put him at unease. Jesse didn't dare show it, instead he stretched his arms and ran a hand through his hair and grimaced at the feel of a few days' grease in it. He had been forbidden to take a shower until he was mostly healed, and he would have been tempted to take one this evening if he didn't get sudden surprising company. 

"I believe you know the question was going to ask." The demon in Hanzo's body answered bluntly and Jesse only grinned and shrugged. 

"Gotta ask darlin', but you being here makes me wonder if Zenyatta will be over seeing as you are gone and he is tasked of keeping an eye on you and your brother. It's only a matter of time before he realizes that you're gone and I meet Zen and your brother once he comes to get you." Reluctantly, Jesse sat down and eased back into the pillow with an unhappy, quiet sigh. The demon's eyes watched his movements carefully before huffing and rolling his eyes. 

"You are right, only a matter of minutes before he is back over here to try and get me back to the house, but I will not let my brother see you." The last part was a low, deep growl and goosebumps rose on Jesse's arms.

"Now hold on there, there is no need for that. It's not like he will hurt me or nothin'. I'm not a faded daisy and can defend myself." Jesse protested and Hanzo growled, grabbing his shoulder in a tight grip. Jesse flinched and tried to pull away from the hand, but he was held in place. 

"It is my job to protect you from threats, even if it is my own brother. He will not dare cross me and this contract once he gets a good enough threat." The comment caused a bubble of anger in the pit of Jesse's stomach to rise and he yanked himself out of the oni's grip. 

"That is not a way to treat family." Jesse commented and kept away from the hand that tried to anchor him close to the demon. "Family is something you protect as much as someone contracted to you. Unless they do something so bad against you where you have no choice but to do things such as threaten them or even physically hurt them." Jesse's voice stooped down to a gravelly growl mimicking the demon and he glared at the demon straight in the eyes. There was an angry flush that went from his cheeks down to his chest."Because you don't know when you need them to have your back, and you always want someone to have your back."

"You do not know how our family Jesse McCree, and as much as you may wish to have your family, they are all dead. My family is a bigger threat than anyone else around, and I am contracted to keep you safe, this blood contract is stronger than any family bonds I may have with him." The oni rebutted, still with the same angry growl. 

"Then I think that being said we're done talking for the night." Jesse replied and got up on the opposite side of the bed, the oni on the one side. Jesse started to walk towards the bathroom and he was intent on trying to wash some of the bad feelings away with the warm water. He glanced down at the gown and then back at the door in front of himself. He was hoping to have scrubs instead of the gown, but Ana would never allow it.

Once Jesse looked up he halted suddenly in his tracks and almost let out a startled yell the oni was suddenly in front of him. 

"This conversation isn't over until I say," the Demon snarled and grabbed Jesse by the front of his gown. Jesse glared up at the demon, not failing to notice the sudden change in the size of the other and he scoffed. 

"I believe that a conversation is over when one of the party stops talking to the other, and with that being said, let go, I want to go take a bath." The grip tightened on the hospital gown before he was suddenly swung to the side. He let out a startled yelp and felt the prickling of the claws. A loud ripping entered his ears and he flinched back and almost fell on his ass from suddenly being let go. There was a different breeze besides the one at his back. 

"I will let you do as you wish tonight, but know that this conversation isn't over with." The demon finally gave up and there was a prickling of claws against his chest and a burning sensation. He gasped and backed up, feeling his back suddenly hitting a wall. He clenched his teeth at the twinge of pain that ran down his whole body, and the burning ache at his chest. 

"This is the seal of our contract, with each piece of the contract is resolved, bits will disappear until it is all gone. Only then will you be free of my grasp," a hand gripped his cheeks and claws dimpled the skin at his temple as he was forced to look the demon in the eye, his anger igniting anew. "And if you die during the contract, not only does it fail, but you also forfeit your soul to me and you go to hell with me."

"Good to know, now scoot, unless you want me to have a little personal conversation with your brother." Jesse commented and smirk came to his lips, his eyes looking above the demon's head. The date flickered dangerously, the dates changing often enough for his eyes to barely keep up, time almost slowing as he focused on the numbers. The deep rumbling of a snarl pulled him from his stupor, he looked back at Hanzo's face and time caught back up all over again. 

"My brother will not meet you if Hanzo or I have anything to do with it." The demon threatened, promised? He couldn’t tell the difference anymore. 

“Why are ya’ so against me seein’ the demon in Genji?” Jesse inquired and looked down at the mark fresh on his chest. Two red dragons curled together in a circle with black markings like demon Hanzo’s spanning across the rest of his chest and down to his naval.

“Unlike me, he is a loose canon with very little worry or care about himself or anyone around him. A stark contrast to his human really.” Demon Hanzo seemed almost sardonic before the lights flickered off, startling Jesse. When the lights kicked back on the demon was gone, and Jesse sagged against the bathroom door in relief. 

“This is goin’ ta’ be frustratin’,” he groaned and used his right hand to twist open the bathroom door. Jesse was dead set on taking a bath and washing away the bad feeling from the afternoon of the shooting and being laid up in bed for so long.


	4. Chapter 4

Jesse woke up to a gentle shake of his shoulder, and it startled him into jerking away from the hand and sitting up just as quickly. The sudden movements caused his head to spin and his vision faded at the edges as he looked over to see that it was Zen waking him up. He must have startled the doctor as well from the surprised expression. 

“I’m sorry to wake you McCree, but I assumed you’d want a good start on the day. Today is the day you’re getting out of the hospital.” Zenyatta’s voice was soothing and seemed to bring back the wave of exhaustion that left him the moment he woke up. 

“Yea, thank you, I need to go pick up my car at my Pa’s place then go get my things. Since I will be movin’ in with y’all today.” He replied and slowly sat up, realizing that his IV was still out of his arm. He glanced back at where the IV stand would be, and the bag was vacant. There were a lot more room behind his bed after the past week or so, the longer he stayed at the hospital, the less machines he had to stay hooked too. Jesse couldn’t help but wonder if that day he was suppose to die and Hanzo’s action extended his life, or maybe this was a lesson he needed to be taught. This could even be a step in life he couldn’t avoid, someone who would affect his life more than he would realize. 

“Did anything happen last night, when the Oni was in your room?” Zenyatta asked, pulling the chair that was beside the bed a bit further up towards the bed before he sat down. Jesse looked at the other male and saw concern on his expression, worry. It only takes him a moment to realize that Zenyatta has been worrying about the onis or demons for far too long by himself. 

“The demon jus’ wanted questions, got a bit mad when Angela interrupted but nothing I couldn’t diffuse.” He replied. Zenyatta wouldn’t have to worry about the two demons alone anymore. It was too much stress to put on one person. 

Zenyatta’s shoulders relax a fraction, but his expression didn’t change. “Are you sure? He just got away from last night and I feel bad that you had to deal with the Oni a day early.” A grin came to Jesse’s face but he shook his head in response. 

“Nothing bad happened, it was settled just fine. I wasn’t hurt, minus ya’ know-” he trailed off and pulled the gown down to show the marks that had been bestowed upon him last night. He couldn’t help but glance back down as well, seeing the two black dragons and red marks curl around the two dragons and radiate outwards. His gaze went from the marks back to Zenyatta, who’s thin eyebrows were drawn together and pinched his face into an unreadable look. 

“That shouldn’t harm you anymore, it is usually it is just initial pain. I had to make a blood contract with Genji’s demon, but I suppose it’s better me than you since my “curse” is more of the healing side than harming.” Zenyatta replied and pushed the side railings down on the bed and started to bustle around. “There is a fresh set of your clothes in the cabinet where Ana put your gun, but she told me you would know where that was by now.”

“Fresh clothes?” Jesse inquired to no one in particular as he eased himself to a stand and walked over to the familiar oak cabinet. 

“Yes,” the reply came over the squeak of the cabinet door and the rustling of starched sheets. “Gabe came over when he first heard the news with a fresh set. He saw the condition you were in and waited till you were in the clear before Jack could coax him to leave. They didn’t come back because Jack knew Gabe wouldn’t leave if he did come back to visit.” 

“Sounds like ‘im,” A plaid shirt, some worn jeans, underwear and socks, the set was familiar considering it was the set he kept in the car in case something happened. “I’ll be visitin’ him today to get my truck back anyways. I will suffer through the barrage of questions without anyone else in the crossfire.” Jesse joked lightly and went towards the bathroom to change. 

Putting clothes on one-armed was a new experience he could have gone without experiencing at all in his life. Just the mundane task of clothing yourself made McCree look forward to the prosthetic a bit more. He was forced to sit down to pull his boxers and pants up, the jeans he used the belt loops to help hike them up. The shirt was simpler to get on, even if it took more time to do so. He had threaded buttons through the button loop one handed many times before, and he had a bit of a struggle putting his pants on. The belt he couldn’t buckle so he decided against trying to get it on. It would be a long few weeks without his belt, but he could do without it. 

When Jesse emerged from the bathroom he saw the bed was made, the extra monitors were put away, the oak cabinet was shut, and his stuff was resting on the bed waiting for him to pick it up. Zenyatta wasn’t in sight either, but the door was open. He must have gone to go do the release papers. Spotting his hat on the bed, he couldn’t suppress a grin as he strode over to the bed and scooped up his hat to put in its rightful spot on his head. 

“There we go, right where you belong.” He muttered before he grabbed his serape, gun and holster, and the rest of his stuff.

“Do you always talk to yourself like that?” Hanzo piped up from the doorway,but Jesse didn’t look up, instead he focused on his stuff. 

“Maybe, depends how loosey goosey i feel that day in particular. Today’s a good day so I see no problem in being a bit odd.” He draped the red serape loosely around his shoulders before he clipped the gun holster to his hip, and shoved the rest of his personal items into his jean pockets. Only then did he look up to the older Shimada. There was something in his expression that seemed off than most other days he visited, Hanzo looked tired, almost scared. Though an untrained eye couldn’t pick up on it. 

“I am sorry for last night, I can see what the Oni does, but I can’t tell him what he can’t do when he has control.” He paused and cast his gaze down on the floor for a few moments as if he was gathering his thoughts before their gazes met again. “I already apologized to Angela, since the Oni will never feel regret or go as ‘low’ as to apologize.” Hanzo scoffed the last part and moved out of the doorway and deeper into the room. 

“You don’t need to worry too much about it darlin’,” the reply was out of the cowboy’s mouth instantly and smoothly. Everyone kept fretting over what had happened. “I’m no fading daisy and have dealt with meaner sons of bitches than the demon…-” He trailed off and reached up to scratch his beard. “Though they might be on my trail again, if you still want anything ta’ do with me.”

“Even if I didn’t want to, I have no choice,” Hanzo retorted quickly but with no heat or malevolence. “You are just fine Jesse McCree, I am fortunate I have the contract with a person like you instead of some other people, but I too have dealt with many people much like you have. I have no doubt that you will hear many stories of it the longer you are around.” 

“Aw, a compliment for lil’ ol’ me, too kind of you darlin’.” He set his left hand on his heart and grinned at Hanzo. He saw the fleeting glimpse of a smile on the corner of his mouth before he snorted and rolled his eyes. 

“Hardly, I just don’t want to be stuck with someone greedy who would rat me out.” In a blink Hanzo’s demeanor changed and left Jesse only to raise an eyebrow. 

“Well it’d be just as easy for you to rat me out as I could you. I don’t have the cleanest of backgrounds.” He admitted begrudgingly with a shrug. “Plus there would be no benefit in me doing that, you haven’t done anything wrong to me, and everyone makes mistakes.”

“Indeed,” the agreement came without hesitation, but the pause afterwards was the most awkward part. “Do you need help with anything?” Hanzo filled the silence efficiently, looking at him for a reply. 

“Naw, not at the moment. Maybe later when i have to pack up my stuff since I will be staying with you, otherwise i have everything mostly under control.” He replied and too glanced at the clock on the wall. “Though I should probably stop dawdling and go sign those release papers.” Jesse said and tipped his hat at Hanzo before he walked towards the door to get out of this room for the first time in over a week. He didn’t make it too far though, Zenyatta was at the door with a pen and papers in hand. 

“Oh, you were done quickly,” Zenyatta commented but smiled. “There are just a few places you need to sign then we can leave to get your stuff.” The two of them walked over to the bedside rolling table and Zenyatta set the papers he needed to sign out. Jesse had been in the hospital enough times to know where he had to sign, and this was a small enough clinic and had enough trusted doctors to do things like take the paperwork away from the desk once in a great while. Plus, if Jesse had to guess Zenyatta wasn’t necessarily on duty right now. 

“Oh, we’re getting his stuff today?” Hanzo asked, his eyebrows pinched together in a look that was a cross between disapproval and concern. 

“No use in prolonging it, its near the end of the month and is the best time to sort out stuff with my apartment before I actually get into the contract of the apartment.” Jesse quickly wrote in his name before glancing up at Hanzo, then quickly back down at the papers. “The day of the accident was actually one of my only days to get all my stuff packed up before I moved apartments. I jus’ needed two more boxes for my dishes. That is why I ran to downtown in the first place.” He initialled the last paper and handed it off to Zenyatta, who in return gave him the papers for his record. “Though if Deadlock knew I was in town I don’t know if they knew where I lived, so most of my stuff could be gone or destroyed for all I know.” Jesse set the papers back on the table to fold them in half, pressing the fold with his thumb. 

“Well you can’t haul boxes one handed too easily, I’m sorry to break it to you.” Zen replied and leafed through the paperwork to make sure Jesse did sign everything. 

“I can help Jesse bring his stuff back to the house, it shouldn’t be that hard.” Hanzo replied, his arms now crossed over his chest. This caught the cowboy off guard and he looked over at the elder Shimada. 

“You don’t hafta’ if you don’t want to, if its because you feel guilty or anythin’ don’t be.”

“You yourself said earlier that it was fine, so what do I have to feel guilty about?” The retort was quick and snappy, with a not-so cleverly hidden sassy undertone. Jesse grinned and held up his hand in mock surrender. 

“Got me there,” Jesse resigned yet the smile didn’t leave his face. “Either way it shouldn’t be too many boxes either way so it should only be a few loads out to the truck once we get that too.”

“We can talk about this in the car, for now we should get going before I actually get pulled into working by Ana or Lucio.” Zenyatta commented and looked between them before walking towards the door. “Let me drop this off at the front desk then we can go.” 

“Lead the way doctor,” Jesse replied and Hanzo walked out of the room with the former monk before Jesse went to follow. 

The paperwork was quickly sorted through and with a long goodbye to Ana and a promise from Jesse that he would visit again soon when he wasn’t injured. Jesse was then lead through the parking lot, shivering from the bitter cold wind, and towards a small suv. 

“Didn’t peg you for an SUV type,” Jesse commented as all of them piled into the car. 

“It is good for instances like needing a different piece of furniture, or groceries. It is better than trying to shove everything into a small car. It burns a bit more gas and energy, but in the long run it is more efficient.” Zenyatta replied as he started the car and turned out of the parking lot. “That reminds me, I need to know you’re father’s address so I can plug it into the gps.” 

“Oh that’s right, give me a second an’ I’ll get that to you.” Jesse leaned back in his seat and fished his cell phone from his pocket and with difficulty, typed in Gabe’s address and started the directions. “That should do it,” he hummed and offered it to Hanzo so they could hear it up front. 

“About the topic earlier,” Hanzo started and grabbed the phone, gently setting it into a cup holder as the automatic feminine voice called out the next directions. “It would be best that one of us help you, because of your current situation, and that it would be the fastest option.”

“I’m not arguing there sweet pea, it would be a losing battle if I did try to argue.”

“At least you admit it,” Hanzo replied with that same undertone of snark. 

“Hey, don’t you sass me.” Jesse replied though with no actual heat, but it did rise a chuckle from Zenyatta. 

“Prepare yourself then Jesse, because there is nothing but sass in the Shimada vocabulary.”

“Lies,” Hanzo scoffed. 

“Oh? I correct myself,” Zenyatta acquiesced, “they can also argue, but those are their two main ways of talking with us mere mortals.” Jesse watched Hanzo shoot Zenyatta a withered glare and he rolled his eyes. 

“I’ve lived with plenty a’ sassy sue's, my sister is the perfect definition of one. Pissed off more teachers than i could name off sassing off to them, and proving them wrong in some cases.”

“You never mentioned your family besides your adopted father.” Zenyatta commented and glanced in the rearview mirror at Jesse. A clouded expression of sorrow and surprise went across his face, but he was quick to hide it. 

“I didn’t did I,” the cowboy agreed and ran a hand through his beard. “I suppose there isn’t much to tell that I can’t say without context.” He muttered and glanced down at the floor. 

“Sarah was older than me, sandwiched between three of us boys, me bein’ the youngest, my eldest brother Thomas, and her twin Quinn in the middle with her. Had mom’s sharp wit and dad’s smarts, was always nice to me even in my worst trouble makin’ streaks. Though that was contrasted by Thomas hounding me constantly to be more like Quinn.” Jesse trailed off and shook his head. “A story for later though.”

Both Hanzo and Zenyatta looked like they were going to say something, but whatever they were thinking of didn’t leave their lips. 

“Sounds like quite a colorful family then,” Hanzo replied with a soft lilt to his voice, thoughtful. Jesse smiled and nodded looking back up. 

“We were, we ranged from rowdy and happy to mellow and thoughtful. Gun enthusiasts, farmers, sewers, and just a happy family. Like most other people really, though we were a mite more quirky than most other families, but I bet most families would say that too.” Hanzo huffed but had that small smile at the corner of his lips. 

“I can very much say the same about Genji and My family, but with different interests of course, so we often call ourselves a special case of crazy.” They all chuckled at that and Zenyatta made it towards the outskirts of town, taking a right turn down a familiar gravel road.

“That is true, I could say that about my brother and I, a family of monks isn’t too common either.” The conversation carried on so easily, lifting the previously heavy and somber atmosphere up to one more light-hearted and joking. ‘These people have been through a lot like I have,’ The thought ran through Jesse’s mind as he glanced out the window at the passing fields, trees, and cows.

“Though we’re all cursed too so that might be our problem too. Just a hunch though,” Jesse teased and leaned back in the chair, fiddling with the tied off sleeve. This time the comment wasn’t met with as easy of a conversation, instead silence rested in the car. “Sure as hell make things more complicated,” he continued on disjointedly.

“More than normal people will ever realize.” Zenyatta agreed and made another turn as the gps instructed. “My brother always told me when I struggled with my own “curse” that I was given this extra gift for a reason. That I was given something I could handle that someone else couldn’t.” 

“Sounds like a very wise person, my Nana told me the same thing, but more in the way that the “curse” is what you make it. She only said that when she saw I was really upset over it.” His Nana was a smart woman, Jesse couldn’t help but think that maybe keeping his curse as a secret between them. Most of the time his family went one problem to the next, so having the curse as one less strain on the family maybe is the thing that kept them together for as long as they were. 

“The people around you also have an influence on how you feel about such a curse whether you like them to or not, but usually it takes a bit of time away from them for you to realize how you feel about the curse yourself.” Hanzo commented as well, tearing his gaze from the window to glance back at Jesse. “Genji and I found that out once we were out of Japan, that this curse is more manageable than what our family lead us to think.” Jesse let out a hum and scratched at his beard again. 

“Some people are right savage in what they say to those they see different, and they seem puzzled why people like us group together.” Jesse glanced out the window and saw the small farmstead just up ahead,and his teal truck sitting no worse for wear by the house. he smiled and started to unbuckle his seatbelt.

“Your father doesn’t live too far from the hospital, must be a convenient little place.” Zenyatta commented as he pulled into the beginning of the driveway. 

“It’s very inconvenient when my father wanted it to be when I grew up though.” Jesse replied and opened his door. 

“We will meet you back at the house once we are done getting Jesse’s stuff.” Hanzo added and opened his door as well. Zenyatta nodded and shifted the car into reverse once the doors were shut and carefully pulled out of the driveway. As the SUV started to drive back the way they came, a chorus of dog barks started up. 

“I hope you like dogs Hanzo,” Their eyes locked for a moment and Hanzo’s expressioned morphed to one of those of surprise, and slight fear. 

“Animals don’t like me McCree,” Hanzo stated quickly and shuffled a bit behind Jesse as the distant figure of three dogs came into view. 

“Aw naw, they will like you, they’re all real sweethearts.” The comment didn’t seem to soothe Hanzo though because as the dogs got closer the more Hanzo inched behind Jesse.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, animals don’t care for demons, and don’t get me started on cats.” All three dogs came sprinting towards Jesse: A german shepard that was the usual black and tan pattern, Jack-Russell/Rat Terrier mix who had black spots except his head which the face was brown and the ears black, and a Canaan that was a cream color. 

“They won’t hurt you I promise,” Jesse remained stubborn with a grin on his face as the dogs started slowing down. The first to jump on Jesse was the small terrier, their barking now just soft pants except for the Canaan that continued to bark. “Christine, quiet,” Jesse ordered and leaned over to pet the Cream colored dog, who in return licked his hand. The German Shepard didn’t fail to notice the new person, and his tail wagged as he moved behind Jesse towards Hanzo. 

Hanzo’s fingers dug into the back of Jesse’s shirt as he skirted away from the dog, but the Shepard followed and happily wagged its tail. It was till the other dogs were off beside him that Hanzo had to stop. The Shepard didn’t stop and pressed his nose to Hanzo’s leg. Slowly Hanzo reached down and offered his hand to the dog, and it got the dog to back up for a second. The pooch sniffed his hand before shoving his face into it, catching Hanzo off guard, and hesitantly he rose his hand and pet the German Shepherd. 

The dog didn’t snarl or bark at him, snap at him with those sharp teeth, instead the tail wagged faster and the large dog started to push against Hanzo and brush against him for attention. Soon Hanzo was crouching and petting the dog, while avoiding the big sloppy dog kisses. “Such a nice dog,” Hanzo muttered and itched behind his ear. 

“Despite the hypocritical name, Kujo is really nice.” Jesse was crouching as well, both dogs wanting pets but the Terrier whined when he brushed against the cowboy’s left side. “Shh Jason,” he soothed and reached over with his right arm to pet the dog. 

“Wait a minute,” Hanzo muttered as he glanced up for where his gaze was fixated on Kujo. “Kujo, Christine, and Jason? Aren’t those all American horror movie characters?” 

“Well Gabe ain’t exactly as sly about some of the things as much as he thinks he is. It is more ironic than anything that these sweethearts are named after horror movie characters. 

“Well you aren’t exactly subtle either Jesse,” a deep gravelly voice came from the road and caught both Hanzo and Jesse off guard. Hanzo turned quickly to see where the voice came from, but only saw the dark clouded vague silhouette of a person. 

“Nope, I don’t mean ta’ be either.” Jesse replied and stood up and turned towards the smoke. “Quit tryin’ ta’ scare Hanzo jefe, it ain’t gonna work.”

“I suppose that is true, considering he isn’t shaking in his boots yet.” The Smoke gathered together and formed a solid body, the one of Gabriel Reyes. He was wearing a long sleeve, black shirt that was a bit too tight around his biceps. The dogs went from crowding around Jesse and Hanzo to walking over to Gabe and demanding his attention. “What’s your name?” Gabriel asked, looking up from Christine at Hanzo. 

“Hanzo Shimada, I met Jesse the day of the shooting, under less than ideal circumstances you could say.” The reply was quick and the shorter male stood up, back straight. “Though I'm surprised you know that much detail, did Jesse tell you?”

“Nice to meet you,” Gabriel followed suit and stood up as well, walking a bit closer and offering Hanzo a hand. “I’m Gabriel Reyes, nice to meet you Hanzo.” Gabriel went between each dog and pet them an even amount each. “Our daughter has a good skill of hacking security cameras and getting info copied from there and into personal banks. 

“It is nice to meet you as well,” Hanzo reciprocated and bowed slightly in response. 

“He was the one who saved me from dyin’,” Jesse commented and lifted up his left arm and showed the tied off sleeve. 

“Though things are a bit more complicated, McCree is just low-balling the situation.” Hanzo added on and looked at the cowboy with a raised eyebrow. 

“I figured it would be,” Gabriel sighed and pet Kujo on the head. “Let's head into the house then, I don’t doubt there is a story to that. With no warning the older male walked over to Jesse and gave him a hug. This caught both Hanzo and Jesse off guard and Jesse was stiff for a moment before he hugged his father back. “Don’t scare me like that again.” If you didn’t know Gabriel enough, you’d think that he was mad, but to a trained ear you could hear the fear, the sorrow. 

“I will try, that’s all I can promise.” Jesse replied and patted Gabriel on the back before pulling away. “How did you find out about the other men, besides the filtered shit on the news?” 

“How else do you think I would find out about it? Olivia of course.” Gabriel replied and lead them down the gravel driveway and towards the house. 

“Typical, she can’t keep her nose out of things sometimes.” Jesse sighe a fewd and looked at Hanzo. “Olivia or Sombra is my adopted sister. Gabe brought her into the family after tackling my problems, then tackled hers.” He explained to Hanzo and Gabriel glanced over his shoulder and furrowed his eyebrows at Jesse. 

“She wasn’t quite as much of a handful as you were, admit it Jesse.”

“You can’t say that when she would right disappear for weeks straight when she got mad at you or Jack.” The rebuttal was quickly spat back out and rose a quiet chuckle from Hanzo. This made both Jesse and Gabriel look over at him. “What is so humorous?” Jesse inquired and adjusted the hat on his head so the brim didn’t block his view of Hanzo.

“Nothing, just that Ana was right, you both are very stubborn.”

“Never said she was wrong,” the three of them made it onto the porch, the wood creaking under their feet. Gabriel swung the screen door open then pushed open the main door and walked in.

“Ana has known us for years, there is no way she would be wrong.”

“I’m going to mention to Ana next time I visit that you actually admitted that.”

“You better not mijo, she’d never let it go.”

"You've known Ana long enough to know that too." A new voice piped up and the television was turned down in the other room. Hanzo glanced curiously towards the new voice and tensed at the brush of a dog against his leg. 

"Yea, but I wouldn't have to deal with it," Jesse replied with a lazy grin and Hanzo rose his eyebrows. 

"Is this what I have to look forward to, because if it is I want a refund." Hanzo muttered before a dog hopped up and rested its paws on his hips and practically demanded some petting. 

"I assume you're the one that was with him that day, the one that jumped into the fight with him." Gabriel commented and then looked to the dog. "Kujo down," he scolded and the dogs ears flattened before he did as commanded. 

"I am," Hanzo admitted though a tad reluctant, a crease forming between is eyebrows. "Though how would you know that? I don't recall you being there at the scene." 

"You're right, he wasn't, he was at home working on some cars that needed repairs." A new person piped in, leaning in the doorframe of the living room. His hair was white and a scar stretched diagonally along his face, blue eyes focused on Hanzo. "We saw the news before hearing at all that Jesse was involved. After that Olivia did what she does best and managed to dig up some security footage of the whole scene. Though it wasn't like I saw any of it." Jack replied with a shrug. 

"Why wouldn't you?" The question was begging to be asked, and it brought a smile to his face. 

"Because I was blinded in the line of duty, can barely see silhouettes as it is let alone a tiny screen." He finally offered a hand in Hanzo's direction. "I'm Jack, Gabriel's husband, father number two to the cowboy you're stuck with." They shook hands, a firm grip in the short handshake before Jack withdrew his hand. "Though if you don't mind me asking, how are you stuck with Jesse? It seems that you are both individuals in charge of what you want to do, unless a curse you may have prevents that." 

Hanzo's face switched from neutral to surprised as he looked at the blind older man. Gabriel chuckled and walked over to Jack and wrapped an arm around him. "It seems like there is a story behind all of this, but let's sit down first."

"Good idea, no use keepin' this tenseness." Jesse commented and looked to Hanzo. "Living room is behind Jack, we'll most likely park it in there." With a small nod the elder two men lead the way into the cozy living room. 

The living room was simple, warm brown walls kept the warm atmosphere while a few table lamps and the silenced television lit up the space. A cloth loveseat and leather couch were in an L shape in front of the television and in the middle of the living room on an area rug. 

 

With Jack, Gabriel, and Jesse sitting on the couch, Hanzo's spot seemed to be on the loveseat. He sat down towards the arm, and Christine hopped on the chair with Hanzo and quickly made herself comfy in the leftover space. 

"Where do you want to start? It's your story to tell." Gabriel said to fill the tense silence and gestured to them with wide arms.

No one spoke for the first moments, the click of dog nails in the kitchen was the only noise while eyes darted around the room. 

"I suppose I should start out," Jesse reluctantly started and looked towards Gabriel and Jack. "It's not good news, but I think Deadlock has finally found where I am." Jesse took his hat off his head and set it in his lap before running a hand through his hair. "Iffen I remember correctly, Mama Deadlock is close to her death date. If they're after me now it must be something of the terminal sorts." 

"Do you know what rank in Deadlock those men were?" Jack asked and leaned forward as if to hear Jesse a bit better. 

"I reckon it's a group of high ops people, one of their more trained units if they could do that much damage in what, ten minutes?" It was a redundant question. "It won't be long before Mama D sends her son after me, the pyro cursed boy that did-" Jesse cut himself off and bit his lip and gestured to Jack. 

"That won't be a good day regardless if he comes in hours or years." Jack grunted and leaned back into the couch. "If you can kill that slimy little bastard would be a great day."

"Well he wouldn't get out alive if he's after Jesse's head or anyone of his family I can guarantee that." Hanzo spoke up and seemed to catch everyone off guard. Gabriel looked at him with a perplexed expression on his face. 

"What do you mean by that?"

"Don't act clueless please, its not befitting on such a smart man." Hanzo replied and leaned on his knees, his hands clasped under his chin. "Jesse was practically dead on the cement moments after I dealt with the Deadlock man with the shotgun, bleeding out because of that arm injury that saved me." Hanzo looked at Jesse, but the cowboy only glanced at him before looking away. "An admirably selfless act considering it was for a person he had no clue who it was."

"If that is the case then how is he still sitting here beside me and not six feet under?" Gabriel asked bluntly. 

"Because of a friend I have know for five years now that has the curse of healing people, and because of my family passed down curse. You must have noticed on the security footage how near the end it seemed to fizzle and cut out some parts of the footage." Hanzo replied and finally extended a hand open palm towards the couch. Slowly his hand and up to his wrist turned a warm grey, his nails black, red marks spiralling from his palm. 

"I can't tell the difference," Jack said bluntly and Jesse looked at the white haired male with little humor in his expression. It was Gabriel who snorted and rolled his eyes. 

 

"My ancestors made a deal with the devil, a few of them. Those devils eyed my family line in particular because of the amount of males that appear in it. So when I give up control I give my body up to the demon inside of my body." Hanzo exhaled and the grey skin seeped away and turned back to the familiar safe cream color. "Seeing Jesse die and an opportunity with the "man with eyes of death" the demon forced itself to the surface and made a blood pact with Jesse. For safety of him he has to help me figure out how to control the demons by trying to figure out some journals my deceased father left behind."

Gabriel hummed and leaned back like the other two. "A real mess you both have gotten yourselves into, but all I can really say is that we will help in ways we can. Hopefully you have a few more helping hands than just us."

"Hanzo's brother and his healing friend are in this for the long haul too." Jesse replied and brushed something invisible from the rim of his hat before standing up. "I'm going to get some air." The comment was sudden, and his fathers didn't say anything as the screen door swung shut behind Jesse with a clatter and he left silence in his wake. 

"Did I do anything wrong?" The question almost seemed to burn as Hanzo asked, his gaze was hesitant as he looked between the two older men. 

"No, Jesse just always gets antsy and wound up when we talk of Deadlock. More so now that they know where he is. They also tend to take out anyone in their way to get what they want." Gabriel sighed and stood up and looked to Hanzo. "Coffee, tea?"

"No thank you, I am fine, but I bet Jesse could use something." Hanzo looked from Gabe towards the window where Jesse wandered towards the road. 

"Very perceptive," Gabriel agreed and walked into the kitchen.

The silence was almost deafening in the living room, and Hanzo finally relaxed his body a bit and leaned back into the couch. Christine looked up from where she was perched and lifted her head to look at Hanzo before laying back down. 

The air was too tense, to silent even with the soft running water in the kitchen. 

"I'm sorry to hear how you lost your vision," Hanzo finally commented and looked to Jack. "It is people like that kid that make the rest of us cursed people seem like bad people." Jack looked in his direction and nodded before he sat up. 

"Yea," he sighed out and he groped on the side table till he found the remote and he turned off the television. "It is something that we can't help no matter how many times I run the scenario through my head." Jack set the remote back down on the table and placed his hand in his lap. "It was harder when I first lost it, being so use to seeing, but it is easier today than it was even yesterday. Some great things came out of it though, so I don't feel like I can truly complain about what happened." 

"Is Jesse getting out of Deadlock one of those?" Hanzo inquired and Jack nodded. 

"The kid's been through a lot and none of it would have gotten better in deadlock no matter how many years he would have been forced to be with them. That-" Jack got interrupted by Jason hopping on the couch and sitting flush against Jack's side. "-isn't my story to tell." He ran a hand down the length of the dog. 

"Oh no, padre's make the coffee?" Jesse groaned from the door as it creaked open, making Hanzo turn sharply to look at the door. "Don't burn it this time," Jesse half teased and half complained, causing Gabriel to bark something in Spanish that it seemed everyone but Hanzo understood. 

"So are any of these dogs a seeing eye dog?" Hanzo inquired and finally a smirk broke onto Jack's face as he leaned towards Hanzo and pressed a hand to his face, naturally Hanzo leaned forward to hear what could possibly be a whisper. 

"I do, it's Gabe, he's my-" 

"Jack please," Jesse groaned as he sat back down in the same spot as before. "You've only made this joke hundreds of times."

"-bitch." Jack finished after Jesse's complaints and it earned a louder groan. Hanzo's eyebrows pinched in confusion before Gabriel walked in the room to personally smack Jack on the shoulder. 

"At least I don't howl like one in bed." Gabriel retorted before walking back into the kitchen to fetch the mugs of coffee, Jack's cheeks were red and Jesse hid his face into his hands in embarrassment. 

"My brother and mother were much worse in presence of people that weren't in our house for business." Hanzo remarked towards Jesse and when he go a curious glance he shrugged. 

"One time when my mother's sister and family were over they got a bit too tipsy and it was basically a fight only consisting of crude puns and jokes. Of course my brother had to pitch in and learn from two of the worst."

"Care to repeat any of it, for us that are curious?" Gabriel asked and Hanzo's eyebrows pinched together further, his expression darkening for a minute before he shook his head. 

"No, I care not to repeat what they said."

"I can only guess the demons loved such chaos," Jesse commented and Hanzo sighed but nodded. 

"Even if their human host loathes such a thing, so I'd probably keep that in mind. Once you get into their loop of crude behavior it's hard to get out." 

"Noted," Jesse replied and reached down to pet Kujo. 

"So if you don't mind me asking," Gabriel interrupted and set the coffee mugs on the table in front of Jesse and sat down with his own. "How are you going to keep Jesse safe since your contract calls for it?" 

 

"That is a good question," Hanzo agreed and again shifted forward again in his seat. "The plan was to have Jesse move in with me, my brother, and the friend with the healing curse. They would be enough room so there isn't worry about that, but it just seems like the best option to have him closer so we can keep him safe." 

"Do you live out of town? In town right now is quite a bad climate for Jesse to be in considering his position with the problem at hand." Jack asked, still petting Jack at his side now sandwiched between Gabriel and Jack. 

"We do, we live near Lake Lakota about 45 minutes out of town to the north." 

"Deadlock usually come from the south in areas like Arizona, New Mexico, so living more north is good because they hate expanding away from their territory." Jesse commented moments before Christine rested her head in Hanzo's lap and started to whine. A soft smile appeared on Hanzo's face before he started to scratch her head. 

"That and its hard to catch four people, six if you consider the demons, off guard." 

"So what about your arm then Jesse, what's the deal with that?" Gabe asked after a long drink of coffee. 

"Torbjorn is making me a mechanical arm, I have to go in a few weeks to get it attached to the tech-port they put on my stub. I should be right as rain in a few weeks." Jesse soothed before Kujo carefully hopped onto the couch and was half in Jesse's lap. 

"Good, Torb will make a nice arm for you even if its on the "cheap" end." Jack commented and Hanzo nodded. 

 

"You sure? Torb doesn't seem ta' like me too much." Jesse asked with the hint of hesitance in his voice before he reached forward to grab his mug of coffee.

"Ana and Lucio recommended Torbjorn to our cursed friend, Zenyatta, he's always had problems with back prosthetics not helping the tech on his spine. He can't walk on his own so when the prosthetic poops out he can't utilize the other tech so he can walk. Torbjorn and his daughter definitely know what they are doing even with Zen's budget." Hanzo reassured and leaned back in the chair and Christine in turn rested her head in Hanzo's laps.

"Let's hope so," it wasn't as hesitant as it was a grumble.

"So what are the other plans for today?" Jack asked and reached over and picked the mug of coffee up and took a drink of it. There was a small grunt of complaint from Gabriel that the other ignored in favor of looking in Jesse's direction. 

"Movin' out to Hanzo's place, out of the way and away from Deadlock. Hanzo's gonna help me pack and haul my stuff or whatever is left of it." Jesse sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. 

"So then who's gonna drive, because I don't know if you can drive with only one arm." Gabriel asked and plucked the mug out of Jack's pale hands and drank from it too. 

"So then who's gonna drive, because I don't know if you can drive with only one arm." Gabriel asked and plucked the mug out of Jack's pale hands and drank from it too.

"Why not let Hanzo drive? Your truck isn't exactly brand new." Jack offered and looked in Hanzo's direction. 

"Because this state in particular has yet to pass legislation to allow people with two leg prosthetics to drive." Hanzo replied and pulled his pants up past his shoes to show the gleaming titanium. "Both are the knees down."

"Team-work," Jesse commented and looked at Hanzo before at his parents. "Does that satisfy you? He'll help me drive, two halves of one whole driver."

"I could drive, its just i would be more illegal than Jesse would be." Hanzo commented and both Gabriel and Jack seemed so ready to just drive them instead. 

"Fine, but you have to call us once you're at Hanzo's place, and we will help you both if you need it." Gabriel offered and got up from the couch as Jesse did. Hanzo and Jack followed and Gabriel opened his arms. Jesse smiled and hugged Gabriel back, he glanced back at Jack then to Hanzo and saw the misty-eyed expression that passed over his face before he seemed to shake it away when Kujo demanded pets with a soft whine. 

"Come by and visit next time when its not after a hospital visit." Jack replied gruffly and went in and hugged both Gabriel and Jack. 

"Ew, feelings," Jesse teased and wrapped what was left of his other arm around Jack. 

"You've been rolling in them all week, you should be used to it by now." Hanzo replied and inches around all three dogs and a coffee table towards the other three. 

"They really like you, you must be real nice." Jesse commented and Hanzo scoffed. Jesse pulled away from the hug and walked around the couch towards the kitchen.

"Hardly, these are the first dogs to like me since I was nine." Hanzo replied and glanced up from the excited dogs to the three other men. Hanzo gave an openly worried expression, showing how un-use to being around dogs. 

"Kujo, Jason, Christine sit." Gabriel ordered firmly and the dogs did as he commanded and left Hanzo alone. In light of this, Hanzo was quick to go away from the dogs and towards the door and Jesse. 

"We should go, before it gets too late. We live 45 minutes out of town and still need to pack your things." Hanzo commented and pulled his phone to glance at the time. Jesse leaned over and glanced at the time.

"Shit, almost noon?" Jesse whistled and walked towards the door and pulled it open, holding it open for Hanzo to walk through. The dark haired male thanked Jesse before Jesse leaned into the house. Jesse reached up and scooped his keys from the hooks by the door and took a few steps onto the porch. "Bye papi, love you," Jesse called into the house before the screen door swung shut with the rattle.


	5. Chapter 5

Hanzo was already by the rusty teal pick-up by the time he was on the porch and he looked down and unlocked the door for his companion. Hearing the car unlock he cautiously opened the door after hearing it creak in complaint. 

"How old is this thing?" Hanzo intoned cautiously and looked through the glass of the driver's window as Jesse swung the hefty door open. 

"Probably as old as Lucio back in the hospital. No reason to get rid of it if it runs jus' fine." Jesse replied and reached over to buckle up before he shut his door. 

"Charming, especially with...what... Coffee stains on the ground?" Hanzo inquired with a raised eyebrow and Jesse huffed through his nose as the truck started with no sputter and he U-turned out of the yard and onto the street with little struggle. 

"I never said it was pristine there princess, sorry to disappoint." Jesse replied and stopped at a stop sign and turned on the radio, before signaling a left turn and doing so. 

"Princess? Isn't that supposed to be reversed since I saved you like a prince charming would a princess." Hanzo replied swiftly and smirked as Jesse snorted and rolled his eyes. 

"Since when does a princess come from the New Mexico illegal underbelly?" Jesse rebutted just as quickly and with a sideways glance at the handsome man in his passenger seat.

"When the prince is born into the Japanese drugs and weapon trade mafia." Shimada. It dawned on Jesse and he couldn't feel any more stupid in that moment than he had ever did. Scratch that, highschool when he worried Jack and Gabriel after a homecoming party that became a fight. 

With little warning Jesse rested his head on the top of the wheel for a few moments. "I thought your name was familiar." Jesse groaned and sat back up quickly so he could keep his eyes on the road. 

"Deadlock is also a familiar name to me, but because we almost did business with them. The deal fell short after the raid the swat did and got rid of a good chunk of Deadlock in a span of what... 3 hours?" Hanzo replied calmly and adjusted the seat so he was sitting a bit straighter.

"Shit," McCree replied and leaned back a bit farther in his seat before slowing down due to city limits coming up. "That would have blown up Deadlock into a way bigger operation than it already was." That wouldn't have been good from the view of someone against Deadlock. 

"The bad thing is that Deadlock wouldn't have made that much more to go towards what they would have wanted due to the deal that would have cheated them out of practically all of that money." Hanzo sighed and leaned against the window, for a moment only the soft muttering of the radio filled the cab. "I was going to take it over, but I didn't want to. That is the only reason why I know so much about Deadlock."

"They weren't nice people, the facade they put on to others interested was really good. They treated all of us under th' top ten like crap. Mama D was a good liar. She probably wouldn't have given you all of the money y'all would have requested. Some lie like they weren't making quotas but would "get better"." Jesse's fist tensed against the worn leather and Hanzo side glanced and then looked back to the front. 

"My father had that same suspicion, and decided to go with the deal for god knows what reason. Though we don't have to deal with the wrong side of the law any longer, once we sweep you free of Deadlock you should be free."

"Do you think you can really do that?" Jesse asked, his voice deadpan, low. "I've been trying since I got into Deadlock to drop any sort of relations I have with them. It has followed me for decades like it is part of my clothes, my shadow, my being-" Jesse's voice rose slightly to make his point, but the soft touch startled him to silence and he glanced over at the other male. 

"Have a bit of confidence, you haven't lost as much as others have against similar gangs. Under my father's rule I have killed many men who tried to run or cross us, and with two people who use to be at the top of a gang we can surely figure a safe way to keep you out of their grasp. Plus if any of us get too off track Zenyatta is that outside perspective that can put us back on track." The words reassured Jesse more than they should have, and he forced his body to relax at the words. 

"Yer' right," Jesse agreed and turned another corner and continued down that street. "They are only a fraction off what they use to be, and their leader will be dead in three weeks. As long as she doesn't send her son after me this will be easy to deal with." 

"Exactly," Hanzo agreed and patted Jesse on the shoulder. "Then you can really recover from what has happened to you, when the rest of them fall apart at the seams without a leader."

"We're almost to the apartment, this talk will have to stay in the car," Jesse jumped topics seeing his apartment in the distance. 

"Of course, I'm not a loud mouth like my brother." Hanzo replied and he shifted in his seat. More soft sounds of rock music filled the cab and Jesse shifted his hand on the steering wheel so he could flick on the right turn signal. 

"I'd still be the prince," Jesse muttered and grinned as he saw those dark eyebrows pinch together.

"As if," he scoffed and crossed his arms. 

"When you do that you remind me of a bird puffing up." Jesse released that comment and Hanzo scowled at him this time. 

"You remind me of a three-legged coyote," Hanzo retorted smoothly as he unbuckled himself. 

 

"My apartment is on the first floor, so hauling the bed should be easy enough without the stairs." Jesse commented as he parked his car and unbuckled himself. 

"That's good, I've been on third and fourth floors without an elevator," Hanzo commented and opened the passenger door as it groaned in protest like before. "It's hell."

"Imagine one with a small cramped elevator, and on the eighth floor." Jesse sighed and handed his keys over to Hanzo. "That is hell when you have to haul the couch up eight flights. The door is heavy and requires two hands, its the big square key for that door."

"Oh, okay," Hanzo replied and accepted the keys visibly surprised that Jesse had admitted he needed help. "I honestly thought you would be stubborn through this whole thing." He commented as he unlocked and pulled the door open.

Jesse put his hand over his heart and mock looked offended. "Me? Stubborn? I do declare." His voice pitched up to mock one of a Southern Bell and it roused a snort from Hanzo. 

"I watched you in the hospital, you didn't like help with anything." Hanzo replied and held the door open for Jesse and let him lead the way towards the apartment. The apartment was a mash of white walls and pale green carpet, making Hanzo's nose scrunch up at the faint smell of stale garbage that lingered in the hall. 

The look didn't go unnoticed by Jesse and he smirked and stopped at door 109. "At least its not cat piss today, sometimes the smell just seems to seep through their doors. the curved key to unlock the door."

"Let's just get inside, that is gross." Hanzo groused and unlocked the door with a firm turn and a loud thud from the bolt sliding out of the wall. Hanzo tried to push the door in, but it wouldn't budge.

"The door WAS locked," Jesse groaned and let Hanzo unlock it before they walked inside to the mess that was once Jesse's nicely packed boxes. 

Jesse lead the way deeper into the messy apartment. Clothes that were once in an old blue suitcase now were strewn all over the floor, boxes torn apart and their contents either broken or discarded on the other side of the room, and his mattress turned against the opposite wall. Walking into the kitchen Jesse peeked into his fridge, not bothered by anything that was missing and he looked in the cabinets and sighed. "I figured they'd destroy stuff," Jesse sighed and stuffed his hand into his pocket. "Fuck," he sneered and leaned against the counter.

"We should repack, find your belongings that are in one piece, and clean up this mess." Hanzo said and rested a hand on Jesse's shoulder. "I can fold the laundry, then help pack." There was a long pause before the cowboy heaved a long sigh and stood up.

"Sounds like a plan partner," he agreed and lead the way out of the too white kitchen with a garbage can and Hanzo in tow back into the living room. Honestly, everything in this apartment was too white. Except for the splashes of color Jesse brought into the room, the walls were white, the carpet, the cabinets, the fridge. There was no time to dwell on it as both of them got started on their own tasks. raven haired male sat by the suitcase and got started folding all of the laundry strewn about as the cowboy dug through all of the mess on the floor trying to find what he could salvage and keep, and throwing away what was beyond repair.

Hanzo folded the laundry quickly, use to pulling his share around the house, and helping Zenyatta fold the laundry for that week while Genji would be put to the task of dusting the furniture (even though they heard him bitch about it constantly). The laundry got folded and packed away in the suitcase quickly before he moved over to where Jesse was on the opposite side of the living room.

"What am I looking for?" Hanzo asked and knelt across from the Jesse and was impressed at how quickly he was cleaning up.

"Prolly' boxes right about now, most of my stuff I hafta' throw away," Jesse replied and tossed another piece of a plate in the garbage. "I didn't have much stuff to begin with, so it won't be hard to replace it all." Finally he looked up from the floor and looked at Hanzo with a small smile, though his eyes betrayed the easy-going look he may have been going for. "Learned not to be materialistic at a young age, I was comfortable and thought I had gotten away, but apparently not."

"Was there anything special to you they destroyed?" Hanzo asked and stood up to see if he could salvage the boxes, digging through the cardboard graveyard.

"Yea, but it's jus' a small thing, the other things I treasure I have formed a habit of keeping on me. Anything loose got snatched up if you didn't have a close eye on it in Deadlock. Keepin' my gun and hat on me was a must have. The belt buckle and now broken watch came later, sentimental gifts from Gabe and Jack." Jesse chuckled, a deep rumble that was pleasant to hear.

"That belt was a gift, I thought it was an ongoing gag joke," Hanzo muttered and pulled a box out that only had a few minor rips and he set it over in front of Jesse. The comment made Jesse full on laugh and he doubled over laughing before turning to face Hanzo.

"Yer' right on that but in that process i got too attached to it. Jack and I didn't get off on the best foot, and to irritate him Gabe got me this belt buckle. Just the sight of it had Jack reeling in anger." Jesse replied and sighed, wiping at his eyes. "In turn though, Jack gave me this old pocket watch that is the loudest sonofabitch ever, and Gabe hates when it is wound up."

"So you were the interference in an argument."

"We called it family bonding," Jesse replied and started putting some bulkier baubles and kitchen utensils that weren't damaged in the box.

Trying to find a second box was exceedingly difficult though and a sigh came from Hanzo as he pawed through the same boxes over and over again. "They really shredded these boxes," Hanzo commented and pulled up the next best one that had its side torn completely down the middle. "Do you have tape?"

"In the kitchen there should be a drawer of junk, there should be a roll of duct tape in there." Jesse replied through the shuffling of a spare sheet being stuffed into the box to protect the contents. "Can ya' get me a sharpie while your in there?"

"No," Hanzo replied with little emotion or remorse and Jesse's eye roll was almost audible.

"Ass," Jesse called into the apartment and Hanzo grinned and snickered.

"Thanks I know my ass is great," Hanzo quipped back before pulling open the old drawer with a loud squeak. This made him cringe at the wood vs wood noise. In there he found the items he needed, and a folded up letter in the drawer. The handwriting was slanted and sloppy in an elegant way, and addressed to one Joel McCree. Looking at the paper, Hanzo flipped it over to inspect it with silent and sharp eyes.

"This is the words that speak war," a haunting voice echoed in Hanzo's head and he instantly stopped looking at it and closed his eyes.

"For Jesse? This can't be any good news then," He thought and opened his eyes before walking back into the living room and shook his head.

"There was a letter in the drawer, and i don't know if you wrote this or not." Hanzo set the pen and crisp white paper on the top of the closed box. Jesse picked up the letter, and with a quick glance he shook his head.

"This ain't my handwritin', but I know whose it is." Jesse replied and handed it back up to Hanzo. "Get rid o' it for me would ya' please do that for me sweetpea." The question was asked and Jesse hadn't even opened it. Hanzo didn't ask though, there must be a good reason for it.

"Sure, down the sink drain garbage disposal, or burn it?"

"Burn it, you can do it on the porch. Just make sure its over the ashtray. The neighbors downstairs bitch up a storm when there are ashes on their deck."

"Okay, let me just tape up this box first, it's the next best one." Hanzo replied and set the letter aside to grab the roll of tape.

"No need, lets just get some garbage bags, the rest left is just bedding anyways." Jesse commented and stood up, grunting as his knees popped. As he stood up straight a few more cracks and pops were audible. "I'm gettin' old," he sighed and walked to the kitchen to get some bags.

"I'll be back in a second once i burn this note, may i have your lighter?"

"Yea, just a tick," he replied and dug in his jean pockets till a small metal lighter was tossed at Hanzo. He was quick to snatch it up and nod before he walked into the living room and towards the two sliding glass doors. Trying to open the doors was also the difficult part, it took a few hard tugs to get the door open enough for Hanzo to slip out.

Once outside the cold air instantly invaded and he was quick to walk over to the lonely ashtray and light the lighter, bringing it close to the paper. A small sneaking part of him wanted to read the letter even though it wasn't addressed to him. He wondered why Jesse wouldn't take a second glance at the thing let alone read it. The other part of him knew that it was an invasion of privacy to do so and wasn't any of his business.

"But now it technically is your business. Its needed to protect the contract holder after all." The demon intoned with his rumbling dangerous voice.

"It is still invasion of privacy," Hanzo muttered and flicked open the zippo lighter and brought it close towards the paper. "He wants it burned for a reason."

"Fear," suddenly where the lighter touched his skin turned grey and the muscles in his arm cramped up, forcing him to let go of the lighter with a hiss of pain. It landed with a clunk on the metal deck and snapped shut upon impact. "He knows their scare tactics, he knows what they want, he fears what may be in that letter. Since he won't read it, you should so one of you is in the know in case something happens. Know any hints they give out, sniff any out.”

"I wasn't given permission to read it, so why would i?" Hanzo huffed and closed his eyes, pushing for control of his arm again, the grey that was crawling up his arm had stopped and was slowly receding.

"Because we both vowed to protect him, and we both know you know enough about gangs to unravel a meaning, and if not you then Genji or the monk." The oni countered though it didn't get a reply from Hanzo, instead he focused on getting control of his arm, and frustratingly enough, the oni wouldn't release its grip.

"Jesse," Hanzo called towards the cracked open door. "can you come here a second?" He asked and remained stiff where he was, not letting the Oni get control of him. If he distracted himself anymore the demon would definitely take that opportunity to seize the whole body just to read the stupid note.

"What 'cha need?" Jesse asked shoving the glass door open and walking onto the porch. His pace halted seeing how half of Hanzo's right arm was grey, and his left arm gripped the letter in a death grip.

"The oni wants to read the letter, I need you to just light the paper on fire, he has my one arm." Hanzo then shifted his body so the left arm was extended towards Jesse.

"That demon o' yours is too nosy for its own good." Jesse commented and scooped up the lighter, flicking it open and setting the corner on fire. The instant the fire touched the paper Hanzo was doubled over in pain, at the screech of sheer anger the bounced around in his head. The right arm reached over to grab the paper, but Hanzo extended his left arm farther out, towards the edge of the railing.

Unable to reach the paper the arm then turned to lash out on its owner. Dark claws extending and reaching down and shredding at Hanzo's thigh. The fabric tore like tissue paper and the nails plunged into his thigh mercilessly. The paper flitted into the ashtray. Jesse jumped at the sight and rushed over. As the hand retraced and went to make another set of gashes, Jesse put his hand on Hanzo's thigh, staunching the wound. The claws dimpled the skin of Jesse's hands but went no further, the contract forbidding the Oni to harm Jesse, and only to protect.

"He isn't too happy that I didn't read the paper, and that you got in the way of my punishment." He muttered and looked at the arm, watching as it went to go and claw somewhere else, only to be blocked by Jesse's hand or arm. The frustrated demon speak echoed in Hanzo's head. "Just grab the hand, it will be easier to stop." Hanzo commented and the arm went to grab the railing, twisting the arm to an uncomfortable degree and made Hanzo double over.

"Yer' still bleedin' darling we might not want' ta' forget that." Jesse worried, doing as Hanzo said and carefully but efficiently prying the hand from the railing and holding it with his own hand.

"I heal faster thanks to the oni. No matter what damage he tries to inflict it doesn't affect me.He is basically harming his own body while harming me." Hanzo explained and used his free hand to hold his leg and he let Jesse lead them inside while he was limping.

"Is the demon why ya' lost your legs?" Jesse inquired as they both stumbled into the bathroom. The grey arm between them lashing out but getting nowhere. The grey receded with every second that ticked on.

"Yes the Oni's own recklessness is what caused the loss of my legs, but I'd rather have no legs than no brother." The reply was tentative, quiet. They leaned together as Jesse used his foot to hook the cabinet open looked under his cabinet and released his hand to grab the clunky, metal first aid kit. Hanzo was surprised to feel himself under complete control of his body so fast.

"And he complains about the oni inside Genji being reckless."

"Oh, the oni inside Genji, who we call Taku, is a lot more violent than Isao, the demon inside me. Of course we don't know their names, so we had to name them ourselves." Hanzo replied and slowly pulled up his bloody pant leg with his hands and exposed the deep gashes that weeped blood.

 

"You portray on the outside that it’s not as bad as it actually is, though I think a lot of people could relate.” There was a moment of concentration where Jesse focused on helping Hanzo out. “We all have a less than desirable secret that affects all of our lives, you don’t have to hide it from me, i understand.” There was calm silence and it didn’t bother either of them. “I am glad to hear a name I can call 'em besides just demon or you." Jesse replied and grabbed a bottle of peroxide. "this will sting," he warned before he grabbed a towel off the floor, and placed it under Hanzo's leg before he started to pour the liquid on the wounds. the moment it hit the wound it hissed and bubbled to life. Hanzo's whole body tensed up but he didn't utter a word.

"I still see it as a bit hypocritical though, injuring its host when mad. No better than a toddler that got its toy taken away." Jesse poured more peroxide over the wound, the pink liquid running down Hanzo's toned thigh and onto the dirty towel. "Just a bit more and I'll wrap it up."

"You didn't have to disinfect it, the demon can't infect me with its diseases."

"Doesn't mean I'm not gonna do it."

"Stubborn," Hanzo huffed and looked around the bathroom instead of the handsome cowboy kneeling in front of him.

"Pot meet kettle," Jesse chimed in snidely and Hanzo snorted.

"This will be an interesting arrangement Mister McCree."

"Oh god don't say that please," Jesse replied and hair stood on the back of his neck. "Reminds me all too much of those ladies that find you cute as a child and pinch your cheeks till ya' feel like they're gonna fall off, but instead of McCree they’d be cooing Jesse. Hold this," the horrors he spoke of hit too close to home as Hanzo ancored the gauze and the end of the bandage.

"I know far too well." Hanzo lamented and looked back down at Jesse. "That was my grandmother and her friends when they decided to visit. "At the innocent age before the demon awakened. The confirmation that I wouldn't claw at them so they would get their cold fingers off me."

"That should do it," finally the cowboy backed away and started to pack up the first aid kit. Once the latches were shut Jesse hefted it with him, and he reached in the shower and saw that the shampoo and stuff was missing. "I figured that my food and hygiene stuff would be gone, I remember a distinct lack o' that stuff."

"A charming bunch I'm sure," Hanzo replied and tried to walk and put weight on his leg. It wasn't bad, he could live with it.

"More like a bunch of starving coyotes, can ya' help with the bed?" The question didn't really need a reply, Hanzo obediently let Jesse lead the way through his apartment and towards the bed and the lack of a comforter or pillows.

"They steal bedding too?"

"Anything they can utilize that they can get their hands on, so furniture to sell, food to eat, things to get themselves high on or clean themselves. Might have to stop by the store tonight or tomorrow to pick up more pillows." Jesse confirmed and walked towards the mattress. "This will be the first thing to do down. A tarp is in the bed of my truck, so my mattress won't get too dirty. Get the big shit outta the way so it will be smooth sailing afterwards."

"Got cables to anchor everything down?"

"Back of the truck," Jesse braced his stump against the bottom of the bed, or the back since it was propped up. "Ready, on three," Jesse crouched and made eye contact with Hanzo. He looked tired more than anything, no doubt talking about Deadlock drained him. "One, two...three," with a sharp exhale they both lifted the bed and Hanzo started walking backwards. They had to pause so Hanzo could open the door, but once that was propped open they walked down the hall and towards the door.

"Tell me if you start losing a grip and we can stop to readjust." A grunt of confirmation was all that was given before they made it to the two safety doors. Hanzo slowly pushed it open with his back and kept it propped open as long as possible with his foot. 

“The door won’t stay open, don't even try," Jesse replied and adjusted his hand miniscule under the mattress. "Just continue through I'll catch it." With that being stated they continued through the narrow entryway, Hanzo quickly decided that it would have to be a quick in and out so the door wouldn't slam into the bed, or them. That was the last thing either of them needed right now. 

Hanzo pulled the bed through the second door quickly and held it open for as long as he could before having to let it go so hopefully Jesse could catch it and make his way through with no trouble. Jesse quickly followed Hanzo’s pace and slipped through the door as it clattered shut behind him. They made it quickly to the car and Hanzo hefted it into the bed of the truck and off to the side so a few other piece of furniture would fit in the back with it. 

“One down, just a bit more to go.” Jesse sighed and walked towards the door. “You remembered the keys, right?” The question spurred a quick search and with every few seconds he didn’t find the keys panic rose in his chest. 

“No, I didn’t.”

\------

Everything didn’t get situated and packed up until late in the afternoon. Forgetting the keys meant that they had to talk to the landlord about opening up the doors, and that naturally lead to the whole fabricated situation on why Jesse was leaving his apartment and not going with the other place he had his eye on. The older lady seemed to be sympathetic enough seeing Jesse’s injury and let him off with no repercussions, only wishes that he would get better. 

“Well that went smoother than I thought it would,” Jesse sighed as he hopped into the truck once the landlord was out of sight. “I seriously thought that she’d want me to pay a fine for backing out last minute.”

“Usually that’d be the case, or they’d keep the deposit.” Hanzo replied and buckled up as the truck started. The rumble of the engine was louder than Hanzo was used to, but Jesse was quick to remedy that with turning up the radio. 

“How long is it out to yer’ place?”

"Approximately 45 minutes, it's I will give you the directions, just head the way your parent's place is, but keep going straight." Hanzo started and leaned back to make sure the delicate boxes were sturdy behind the seat. 

"Okay, do ya' mind if I turn on some tunes?" Jesse looked over at Hanzo to look at what he was doing and saw that the boxes were tittering behind the seat. 

"Go ahead, I don't mind. Just please not pop." The reply was muffled by the moving of boxes. Jesse let his free leg back up and he steered the wheel with his knee as he turned the radio onto the mixed classic rock channel and turned it up. The song playing was one from Van Halen and it was mostly background noise since he didn't know the song. His hand made it back to the wheel and his left leg relaxed back into the right position. 

"I hope you don't mind classic rock, there are a lot of pop stations around, and I don't know how you feel about country." The buildings that lined the streets slowly became shorter and scarcer as they wound through the town and towards the limits. The road went over cracks and bumps that got worse the farther they were from the center of town. This road was on the agenda to get fixed next summer. 

"I don't mind," Hanzo replied and brought the armrest down and shifted back to face the front of the car now that the weak boxes were anchored correctly and he looked through the windshield to see where they were before settling to look out the passenger side window. "My only true grudge is against pop music."

"Good ta' hear, I don't much care for it myself. Too much of it around nowadays and it doesn't hold the same soul and only talks about sex, drug use, and or drinking. Is it really something we should be promoting to the younger people who hear it. I mean on the drinkin' and partyin' aspect newer country isn't the best either, but there are some actually soulful songs sprinkled in there." Jesse went on about it, obviously passionate about it though it made Hanzo smile slightly and look over at the driver. 

"I assume you've gotten into an argument about it before," the remark caught the cowboy off guard and his ears turned red and he leaned back in his seat and shot a quick side glance at Hanzo. 

"I have," he confirmed alibet shyly. "My sister, Gabriel's other adopted kid, is into that techno, pop, rap, and she insists that she knows the reasons on why its superior. While I have to shove at her every time that it is just her opinion." 

"Genji is the same way," Hanzo huffed and shifted the worn seat belt so the strap wasn't digging into his neck. "Instead of arguing he just shoves it on you and plays it all the time." 

"We can fight the pop plague together, what about Zenyatta, is he on our team?" Jesse inquired hearing the song winding down. 

"He is the type of person that can listen to everything, so he has no true push on music except for instrumental." 

"I can see it, he seems like that type. It seems like a very soothing option." The song that was on next was one that made Jesse change topics. The familiar strum of guitars had him steering with his knee to turn up the radio just a tick more. Piano chimed in and Jesse shot Hanzo a bright happy grin. 

"Look around you," Jesse's baritone singing drawl sang along with the main singer's tenor voice, catching Hanzo off guard, and, his interest. "Look up here," He gestured with the stub of an arm up, and Hanzo could imagine the cowboy gesturing up to his eyes. That bright happy smile unarming. It was the happiest Jesse had seemed since the accident. Take time to make time, make time to be there."

There was a pause before the singing started again. "Look around, be a part," Jesse's hand rested over his chest and he steered with his knee. "Feel for the winter, but don't have a cold heart." The wink that was shot Hanzo's direction caught the shorter male off guard and he looked away with is eyebrows drawn together. A blush forming slowly on his cheeks and he was trying to school his expression and avoid the smile that threatened to be on his face.

"And I love you best, you're not like the rest. You're there when I need you, you're there when I need." Jesse took a breath and a weight settled on Hanzo's head. "And I'm gonna need you." Hanzo's eyes widened slightly as he glanced back at Jesse whom now was looking straight ahead, hand on the wheel. His hat hair was atrocious and Hanzo chuckled and adjusted the cowboy hat on his head so it wouldn't disturb his tied up hair. 

"A Long time ago I had a lady to love," Jesse's thumb drummed the beat on the steering wheel. "He made me think of things I've never thought of." Jesse took another breath, his expression calm, and the way he sang enamored the archer, even with the uncalled for pronoun change when the original song sang she and not he. 

"How she's gone and I'm on my own a love song has come into my mind. A love song it was there all the time." Hanzo hated interrupting but he had to. 

"Turn left up ahead and it should be a straight shot." He interjected at the last part before the chorus finally came on. Jesse saluted with his fingers and smiled at Hanzo before doing as directed. 

" So baby," Jesse's volumed raised with the song, the infectious beat causing even Hanzo to tap his foot. "Let me take a look at you now. You're there on the dance floor makin' me want you somehow." The road was a bumpier gravel road and Hanzo looked back to make sure everything was still tethered down. "Oh, lady, I think its only fair I should say to you don't be thinkin' I don't want you, cause maybe I do." The last line their eyes met, a clash of swirling amber pools that seemed endless, and dark chocolate brown eyes equally as endless. 

An instrumental break had Jesse focusing on driving while still keeping up with the beat of the song. Carefully Hanzo took the hat off of his head and reached over to push it back onto Jesse's. 

"Look around, come to me. I have no answers but know where I want to be. I look around, play the part. I was born in the winter but cooled by a warm heart." Jesse started up again and Hanzo glanced out at the trees that now lined both sides of the road. The cowboy's deep timbre seemed to soothe the tense knots in Hanzo's shoulders and made the atmosphere in the car so serene, almost surreal. Before they both knew it the song wound down and a commercial break piped out loudly and Hanzo was quick to turn down the ad. 

"You're really good, where did you learn to sing?" Hanzo asked and shifted in the seat to look at Jesse. 

"I have sang all my life, my abuela taught me, but for a while I didn't sing. It wasn't until Gabe got me a guitar that it rekindled that love for music. Honestly that is probably why Olivia teases me on my taste in music." 

"That is what younger siblings do after all," Hanzo sighed and looked back out the window, his leg jittered trying to calm down how antsy he was getting. 

"Ain't that the truth, a pain in the ass that you love too much for your own good."

"Is your sister cursed as well? You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I'm just a bit curious."

"Naw, she and Jack are lucky enough to be normal. She's real smart with computers and stuff. That's probably the only reason my fathers saw the security footage. She is real good at hiding the questionable things she does though, and it’s a tad frustrating."

"She's pretty smart then, it took the Shimada clan decades to manipulate the government of Hanamura and Japan to just ignore the illegal trade we did. We kept that influence for decades too. Though I hope she is aware that there can always be someone who can outsmart her. That can be the faltering point of most hackers, they get cocky and then they get hacked themselves and get leaked themselves." 

"I'm guessing you had some under your thumb."

"Had to have them under my blade to, a government trying to break the grip my family have on them." He replied and shook his head. "Looking back what I did for my family to cover their atrocities was an atrocity in itself." Hanzo exhaled through his nose and Jesse didn't say a thing, "Though everyone makes mistakes and can improve from there."

"Is Zenyatta something more than just a handler? He seems to know both of you real well and is very wise for his age." Jesse asked not taking his eyes off the road. A new song came on the radio but they kept it at a low volume for now. 

"Zenyatta's assistance came at the perfect time for both Genji and I. We were both losing control of the demons, recovering from the rampage they had done previously, and mentally we were in pieces, fighting." There was a tenseness in Hanzo's voice that almost seemed to mute the radio out. "We met up with the Shambali by chance and stayed with them for a few weeks. Of course they had to have someone to watch us at night, a capable persuader and fighter. Zenyatta was the perfect person for the job and had to take care of our curse each night. He helped us more than just in the evening and helped us cope with the shock of what happened. The night of our departure Zenyatta decided to come with us, Genji as a whole growing attached to him, and a squabble between Zenyatta and his brother helped put the nail in that coffin. He's been with us ever since." 

"I bet you help him too, its better to be with company than alone, loneliness does wicked things to one's head. He probably is being helped by both of you as much as you get his help."

"Hardly," Hanzo scoffed and his eyebrows pinched together. "Turn left at the green "Talon" diner." Once that was done Hanzo broke the tense silence. "We cause more trouble than help for him." 

"Has he said that?" Jesse asked and steered with his knee as Bohemian Rhapsody came on and he turned up the volume a few notches, but just as quickly his hand went back to the wheel. "If he hasn't said that out loud to your face than what is it your business assumin' what he thinks."

"Because I don't need confirmation from Zenyatta to remember in the past that we had been called a big problem and that we would be better off dead. As kids." Hanzo spat and shot a glare at Jesse.

"Everyone has different tolerances, don't go assumin' that Zenyatta is as short fused as the asshole that had said that."

"The Oni's don't get better with age, only worse because they know the older we get the higher chance we have of dying. The more volatile they get so they can get the answers they want. It isn't about tolerance, I know this curse better than you, and I know how my father was at the end-".

"You aren't your father," Jesse interrupted with a frustrated shout. "I'm not whoever said that, neither is Zenyatta. If you can't trust anyone then you obviously have a harder time regardless. Who are you to assume what I’m like, you don't know all of what I've been through, the people I've dealt with. I can tell you right now and swear my life on it that you Hanzo Shimada are a god send compared to a lot of those assholes I've dealt with in my life. So don't go shoving those poisoned words in my mouth."

"How would we know that for sure? You may be able to stand me, but what if you can't handle Isao. You got lucky last night he didn't persist on what he wants from you, but I can guarantee that he will continue to try and manipulate you till he gets what he wants. Once his mind is set on something there is very little that will stop him from reaching the goal, through hell or high water."

"I suppose we'll find out though, but it ain't like I can back out now, I'm contracted to Isao whether either of us like it or not. Weighing the odds though I think with Zenyatta's help, If i need it, everything will be fine." Jesse stated but glanced over at Hanzo and continued, "You saved me from bleeding out in the streets, Zenyatta kept me company and explained things, and Genji was good company and is real nice too. Don't go knockin' at yourself because you hate the situation you are in." Hanzo didn't have much else to say to that, Jesse had hoped he wouldn't. Obvious from just another side glance he wasn't happy with how stubborn Jesse was, and was sulking because he may have proved the other wrong in a few aspects.

They didn't mind the silence, classic rock filled the cabin with noise as they went down the gravel road in silence. Songs transitioned over and over from Queen to Foreigner and The Eagles to AC/DC, all without Jesse singing along, and the only interruptions there was, was when Hanzo gave out directions. Tension was high in the cab but neither of them wanted to break the silence, both too stubborn to apologize or transition back into the argument. Someone had to break it though damn it, it just wasn't either of them.

\---------

They made it into the driveway barely distinguishable from the thick tree line, the only indication being a mailbox and a while post marking off the other side of the driveway, there was a ditch there after all. Arriving at the home it looked like it should belong alongside a lake. It had a log cabin look and it gave off a homey want warm feeling right away, but Jesse suspected that there was either a basement or a second floor to it seeing that it was just a bit taller than other cabins he had been in previously. It looked pretty small compared the land it was on and the trees that wrapped around the property line. Jesse drove up to the house and let out a low whistle.

"Nice place ya' have here." Jesse commented and stopped short of the front porch and kicked the pickup into park. Hanzo apparently had nothing to say and got out of the car once the keys were out of the ignition.

"Genji, can you come out and help me with the furniture." Hanzo called instead and slammed the truck door shut. Jesse rose an eyebrow and gave Hanzo a look, but the shorter male didn't see it, fine by him. Genji and Zenyatta emerged from the house and Genji grinned and walked towards his brother and went to help him out.

"Petty arguments," Jesse grumbled and got out of the pickup himself, but he busied himself by taking the boxes out of the back. Zenyatta's footsteps were a light crunch compared to Jesse's own.

"I will show you to your room, do you mind if I help you with boxes?" Zenyatta asked and Jesse looked over and smiled.

"Not at all, could ya' take the boxes, if you don't mind." The reply was smooth, no use brewing over the argument while with others.

"I can, I can safely assume you have the bags then." Zenyatta replied and hefted the two boxes out of the back. "You don't have much though, so it should be easy to get everything in."

"Didn't have much to begin with, doesn't help my apartment was ransacked by Deadlock sometime either during the attack or the few weeks I was in the hospital." Zenyatta's face morphed from happy to one of lament.

"Either way they wanted you it seems." Zenyatta commented as Jesse grabbed the three garbage bags in the back.

"Seems so, don't much appreciate all the stuff they broke," Jesse kicked both truck doors shut. Once that happened Zenyatta lead the way, the screen door clattering shut behind the Shimada brothers. "I also don't much appreciate Hanzo tryin' to scare me away." Jesse muttered quietly to Zenyatta.

"Its hard for him to trust, just let it go, don't apologize, but act normal around him. That usually makes more of an impact than just the silent treatment." Jesse hummed and held the door open for Zen even while over encumbered with bags. "I had to go through the same thing with both of them."

"He has a demon in his body, I've been in a gang of people who should go rot in hell. I don't think I'll have too much trouble." Zenyatta lead the way through the kitchen and up the stairs from the living room.

"The railing is rickety, watch for that," Zenyatta commented and glanced back at Jesse, and that is all he needed. The former monk's look said it all, "we'll talk about this later," and Jesse nodded.

"I'll jus' hafta be extra careful then." He replied and they turned left down a small U shaped hallway and walked into the open door. The room was smaller, but with all of what McCree had, it was just the right size for everything.

"I assumed you would have accumulated just as much stuff as we have since you're only a year younger than Hanzo, but you don't have a lot." Genji commented as they edged out of the room to get another piece of furniture, Hanzo was already halfway down the stairs.

"Naw, never was much for personal things, but here I am with a box of trinkets and sentimental items." McCree replied and tossed the bedding and towels onto the ground, Zenyatta a lot more delicate with the boxes.

"Opposite ways of growing up then-" there was an impatient call for Genji's name downstairs interrupting Genji, and the younger Shimada glanced down the stairs unamused. He then gave Jesse a small salute and went down the stairs and barked something to Hanzo in Japanese.

There was the shut of the screen door and Jesse looked over at Zenyatta. "If you don't mind, can i get a tour of the place?" Jesse asked switching topics and Zenyatta smiled serenely.

"Of course, I suppose we should start with this floor then." They went out into the hall and he walked to the door just to the right of Jesse's. "This is my room, if you need anything you can knock anytime. My curse renders it so I need only a few hours of sleep, so it won't bother me."

"Sounds like a right pain in the ass." Jesse commented and Zenyatta chuckled.

"Its more convenient than you think." Jesse stepped out of the way as they went towards the stairs and up the other side of the U. "This is the bathroom for us up here, they have one downstairs too. Otherwise its pretty empty up here minus the storage room right there. Its family stuff though so I wouldn't go in there."

"Its locked anyways Genji replied as they walked up the stairs, this time with the bed frame. Once the Shimada brothers were upstairs they headed downstairs.

"The living room is right off the stairs, right against that wall is Hanzo's and Genji's rooms respectively. They don't use them much but its the thought that counts." They went through the doorway and back into the kitchen. "This is the kitchen, and the doors lining the doorway are the bathroom on the left and a closet on the right for coats."

"Small and cozy," Jesse commented and had to admit that the house was quiet cozy and modern on the inside, not what he was expecting from a house that looked like a log cabin. "Is there a reason why here instead of somewhere else. I mean, there is plenty o' land around town."

"This place was out of the way, so even with the clinic as the closest place from here it is hard for the Oni to get into town even if they do escape the house. Not that they want to in most cases, last night was a rare occurrence." 

"I suppose that makes sense, close enough but far away." Jesse replied and looked around for the time as they stood in the kitchen. It was a quarter to five. "Do ya' suppose I'd have enough time for a nap before the evenin'?" He wondered and heard the thud of his truck hatch being shut. Zenyatta then glanced at the time too and hummed before Jesse walked over and opened the door for the brothers. They hauled i the mattress and went to his room with it.

"I think so yea, do you want me to wake you before Genji and Hanzo go to bed?"

"If ya' don't mind," A nod was all he needed and he headed up the stairs to intercept the brothers. Jesse almost tripped up the stairs, but made it just as the brothers emerged from his room. "Thank you fer' doin' that, I appreciate it, you didn't have to anyways." Genji smiled and Hanzo huffed through his nose.

"It'd be hard to do by yourself even with both arms, but your welcome." Genji replied and Hanzo breezed by him.

"I'm goin' to go lay down, talk to ya' later." Jesse tipped his hat and Genji chuckled at the action as he headed down the stairs. He walked in there and stopped at the door, his bed was built and made. This surprised him and a soft smile came to his face as he took off his hat and tossed it onto the boxes, his belt ended up on the floor before he laid down. Once his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.


	6. Chapter Six

It only felt like he had closed his eyes for a few minutes, but soon he was being gently shaken awake by Zenyatta. A tired groan incoherently escaped his lips as he tossed the blankets off of himself, and sat up.

"Hanzo and Genji are in bed, do you want to join me for some tea?" Zenyatta offered and walked over to flick on the light, one of the only dated things in the room.

"Sure,I hope it can wake me up a bit more." His body was heavy from sleep but he forced himself to stand up anyways.

"I can brew some coffee too if you want," they walked out of the room and Jesse shut the light off behind him.

"I'm fine with either, if tea is already made I will drink it. I've had too many meals with Ms.Amari to not like tea by now." They house was silent except for the soft murmurs of the television and their talking.

"She is a pretty avid tea drinker," Zenyatta recalled as they turned the corner right into the dining room. Zenyatta went to the stove where a kettle was, and Jesse parked himself on one of the barstools. They were quiet for a moment, Zenyatta grabbing two mugs and pouring chamomile tea into both. "Tonight is going to be a different experience for you, just thought I'd tell you a bit before Taku and Isao wake up." A mug was set in front of Jesse and the former monk sat beside him.

"I figured, but what do they often do in the evenings? In case Isao didn't display them on his short tryst yesterday." Jesse asked and wrapped his hand around the warm mug.

"It varies per day really, for example, with Isao he questions more while Taku is more of a physical burden. If you haven't told Isao what information he wants then he will pester you all night, bring up your past, and other things like that till he intimidates you enough for you to say it. Very rarely have I seen him go to physical violence." Zenyatta sipped at his tea and seemed to be thinking of what next to say. "Taku on the other hand is curious and self destructive on his worst days, but most days he's just lewd and tries to get Isao angry enough for them to fight. In which case if that happens we have to intervene."

"Seems like they are both a handful, but at least you don't have ta' deal with alone anymore. That musta been a tad stressful some days." The comment didn't have a second thought to it, and Jesse sipped his tea, surprised at Zenyatta's laugh. 

 

"Most days it was talk, i got use to the roll really fast with help from Genji and Hanzo. Though other days they got angry for the strangest of reasons, but everyone has their reasons even if they may not want to talk about it." Zenyatta replied and took another sip of tea. "Its just the type of thing where you got to be prepared for anything they may throw at you."

"Most days are like that though, ain't they? The demons are jus' another person that adds to that factor." Jesse reasoned and blew on the hot tea."I just don't understand Hanzo's hesitance to trust me on the fact that I can handle Isao." Jesse's tone darkened quickly and he looked in the mug before over at Zenyatta.

"It isn't my story to tell, but If I was to wager a guess, it is the same reason why you hate talking about deadlock." Zenyatta replied and glanced at the time. Jesse's eyebrows pinched together as he thought of a retort, but his thoughts were cut short by a low pained moan that made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. Both of them looked in the direction of the living room as a lower moan of pain.

"Soon everyone will be nice and open, just give it time. It seems like the Onis won't give us any time either. Genji and Hanzo must have been tired." Zenyatta didn't move though, he still held the mug between his hands, so Jesse did the same.

"So do they emulate the crabiness of their hosts when they wake up, or are they like a bunch of early birds?" Jesse asked the question as redundant as it may seem. Zenyatta laughed, a soft and soothing noise almost like tinkling bells.

"They are probably more energetic than groggy if I'm honest." This time both brothers make the noise at the same time, their voices gaining that dual tone and making the pained groans even more inharmonious and struck a musical cord that sent shivers up Jesse's spine.

"Does this get any better?" He asked and jabbed this thumb in the direction of the living room, and all he got was a shake of the head.

"No but I must also warn you that Taku will be very interested in you, but if the words of the blood contract have anything to do with it Isao won't let him lay an ill intended finger on you."

"I feel so safe," there was no hiding the sarcasm in his voice as he took a longer drink of the lukewarm tea. Zenyatta rolled his eyes and nudged Jesse.

"And who's the crabby one?" Zenyatta teased, and as there was a retort on his lips there was the creak of a door opening that captured his attention.

"Is the fresh meat here?" Jesse could tell that it wasn't Isao that emerged first, instead Taku. Genji's normal tone was paired with another very slightly lower tone that had Jesse's mind in a tizzy. When Taku walked into the kitchen Jesse could tell instantly that Taku and Isao had to be somehow related. He had the same grey skin tone but instead of a cool tone it was more neutral, his eyes were the same red, and along with the red marks all over his face were also shorter horns as well as the normal larger ones.

"Oh, not scaring him away with the tusks tonight?" Zenyatta piped in and halted Taku's steps stalking forward towards Jesse. He glanced around Jesse and to Zenyatta.

"No, didn't feel like it," Taku replied in a snarky tone back that had the monk rolling his eyes.

"You know what your brother will do if you touch Jesse," the reminder was voiced nonetheless and Taku's face twisted up into a mocking sneer.

"Nothing wrong with talking to him."

"Looks like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Jesse pointed out and the demon's face relax as he gazed over at Jesse.A smile came to Taku's face and got closer to Jesse, and soon was only an inch away. 

"You're a snarky one," Taku commented but the grin didn't fall from his face, instead it only widened as he touched the brim of Jesse's hat. The difference Jesse saw in Taku to Isao was that he was, in fact, that he did like to be more physical. With this difference Jesse only smiled and shrugged. 

"I could say the same with you, you're quite different than Isao." Jesse replied and lifted the mug and turned in his seat to take a sip of the tea. His eyes out of sheer curiosity darted up to look at the date above the demon's head. He was very surprised to see that it was much like the other demon and Gabriel. The date flickered rapidly between several dates, and never settled on one for more than a few seconds before flickering to the next one. Time seemed to slow as he watched the dates. 

The thing that broke him from the daze was the mug slipping from his hand a few inches to the countertop. It clattered before tipping over and spilling the tepid water on the counter and Jesse. A curse was lined up at his lips, but a grunt is what came out as a hand grabbed his head and wrenched it back. A dulcet laugh seemed to echo in his head and his gaze was forced to look up into the demons' endless red eyes. 

"So that is what he's after, interesting." The hand in his hair forced his head from one side to the other as if appraising him. "If Isao hasn't informed you, this is one of the most unique curses that we've seen in a human." The grip on his hair tightened and he braced against the pain the best he could, trying not to give a reaction. The talk of his curse caught his interest, so he kept silent and listened hoping the other demon could give him insight that Isao wasn't. 

"That's enough," Zenyatta spoke up and a different pressure settled on his head. The short haired demon hissed and let go of Jesse's head suddenly, his hand being squeezed by Zenyatta's, if Jesse had to guess, on the pressure points. 

"Ruining the fun, I was just gonna tell him about the lost ability." Taku replied and yanked his hand from Zenyatta's grasp. 

"You're only going to have one by the end of tonight," a low rumbling threat came from the doorway and Jesse shivered before he saw Isao walk into the room and stalk over to his brother with a menacing glare on his face. The only reaction Isao got was a grin. 

"I am only curious, there is no harm in that brother, since you are often too curious yourself." He commented before there was a punch thrown his way, narrowly dodged. 

"And you blatantly ignored the fact I told you to not to talk to him let alone touch him." Taku's didn't fade as he was accused of something he very obviously did. 

Zenyatta slid a towel over to Jesse and broke him from his stupor, as he wiped off the counter, and put the cup aside before wiping his shirt down. "They're going into Japanese, but I think its best we diffuse the situation." Zenyatta commented and Jesse nodded and got up from the seat. 

"If yer' gonna fight, take it outside, duke it out till yer' both tired. We shouldn't have to deal with your petty shit." Jesse spoke up, by the twitch of their pointed ears it registered to a point, but they never broke from their argument. Instead more punches were thrown, their features morphing into something more demonic. Tusks started to appear and they sneered at each other, their voices becoming more and more haunting, their nails sharpening, eyes flaring to with a sharp glowing white, Taku's eyes no longer red, and they got more violent. 

"That's enough you two, quit antagonizing each other. Isao you expected this of your brother and still act like a scandalized twelve year old." Zenyatta spoke up, stepping closer to the fight, and Jesse watched the former monk do so but had to fight urges to pull him back to obvious safety. 

The demons didn't pay any attention to what Zenyatta had said either, and as much as it was frustrating, it also grew more important by the second. By this point blood has been shed, Taku had ran his claws through Isao's night shirt, Hanzo's night shirt? Regardless, Zenyatta looked as obviously at a loss as he was with them purposefully ignoring the both of them. 

There was only one other way that Jesse knew how to break up this argument, and he hadn't done it in a while, not since Gabe and Jack's last big argument. Gingerly Jesse took Zenyatta and pulled him away from the Onis before, giving a small smile of apology before focusing solely on the two demon brothers. 

"I ain't gonna tell either of ya' what the death dates of Hanzo and Genji are, so quit your squabblin' or take it outside." Jesse's voice was a cataphony in the noisy room, his usual gentle demeanor carefully crafted into an old facade of fearless confidence and an stern but blank expression. 

That is what caused both of them to look up with an angry expression still deeply drawn on their faces. Jesse didn't lax his confidence though, instead it was his turn to take a step forward

"That is awful bold for you to say Jesse," Taku spoke up and Jesse shrugged. 

"Its awful bold for ya' both to assume I would tell you in the first place." Jesse replied back with a calmer suave, morphing from the previous sternness. "I know the cards I hold in my hand, they've fought back before, but is it really any use fighting over information you won't get?" Jesse then looked straight at Taku, "and bein' all physical alpha dog bullshit won't make me squeal either, Deadlock taught me how not to crack under such pressure."

Isao didn't grin like his brother, instead his face morphed from anger to a blank expression between times he had glanced at the longer haired demon. He didn't speak up either, only a calculated stare as if tearing apart every bit of the facade he put up. Most reactions to such a change in his demeanor would be fear, surprise, excitement for the challenge, but never indifference; In most people who would try and act indifferent they had a small tick that would tell Jesse otherwise, but not Isao. 

"That doesn't mean they will give up either," Zenyatta replied with a small sigh and Jesse glanced over at him. Zenyatta walked towards the brothers and grabbed Taku by the arm, unphased by the transformations or bigger stature than Genji had normally. Instead of taking it as a challenge, the demon flinched against Zenyatta's hold, a yellow radiating outward from where his hand was, dragging purple veins with it. Wordlessly Zenyatta steered him towards the front door and outside wordlessly. 

"Does that happen often?" Jesse found the question slipping from his lips before he could have a second thought about it. He forced himself to relax and lean against the counter with a quiet sigh. 

"Only if our fights are bad enough in the monk's eyes, he keeps my brother away from me for most of the night and they often decide to hike over to the lake a few miles away. The only thing that will pacify my younger brother, such a child." Isao explained in depth and didn't take his gaze off Jesse. "I don't need such babysitting though for future reference." Jesse chuckled and shrugged before walking into the living room. 

"So we're going to write off yesterday as the one time you needed it then?" Jesse needed to sit, the tea was now cold on his shirt but that could wait till later. He sat down on the small couch and leaned back into the worn down piece of furniture.

"That was for curiosity, not so you had to babysit me." The demon replied walking into the living room after Jesse but didn't sit down like the cowboy. "I made it home perfectly fine and alone with no distractions on the way."

"Good, makes you a nice loyal Oni." Jesse teased and turned to look up at him. He didn't seem to hide the features that came out when he was fighting with Taku, but it made the scowl he was giving him just that bit more daunting. "speakin' o' which, ya' gonna stay all big n' scary or calm down a bit?"

"Your comments don't make it easy nor do I like you with that false sense of superiority, so I will stay this way for now." Jesse rolled his eyes at the comment. 

"Because I think that an demon, even though shorter than me, can't take me on." Jesse replied sarcastically and put his feet up on the ottoman.

 

The oni looked at him weird and he chuckled before gesturing to the couch. 

 

"You don't need to be all stiff and strict, it will be a long arrangement if you're like that." Jesse suggested but wouldn't press for it if he didn't want to sit. 

"You are insisting that we're just going to talk all night?" Isao rose his eyebrows and crossed his arms but didn't move from where he was standing. 

"From what you've said about Zenyatta, that is a lot of what you did with him. It was probably just Taku that needed that extra attention." This time Jesse's attention wasn't on the demon, but instead he decided to search around for the television remote. Maybe if he couldn't coax him to talk he could convince him to sit and talk shit over a movie or show. The remote was on the opposite arm of the couch and he reached over and picked it up off the arm. He felt a twinge of pain up his side and he cringed. 

"That is true, but what do you think you may be able to contribute to a conversation besides what you claim you won't tell me or Taku?" The tone of his voice screamed challenge, but the only reaction Jesse let it rise out of him was an eye roll. 

"We can talk about many other things, like how you hurt Hanzo tryin' to be nosy. When in honesty I was in that gang long enough to know exactly what that note probably said." Jesse replied and flicked on the the TV and saw that it was a news channel with a late night talk show, Jesse debated before setting the remote down on the ottoman. 

"You should have read it to confirm your suspicions instead of wasting possibly vital information. Though if you had to take a guess since you didn’t read the letter, when will they coming to get you?" The demon took another step forward and Jesse looked up at him and shrugged. 

"It said something along the lines of a date we could meet with some of the lower lakies to make a deal. Once the deal would have been made they would have gone back on it and killed anyone that accompanied me and take me back to Mama D, and I would have been asked about when she'd die. Probably killed after not giving that information or tortured till i bled to death from not giving the date." Jesse glanced at Isao before at the television, his thoughts racing at the question. “If I were ta’ take a guess, I’d say that they will be here in a week, two weeks max. I burned a lot of that time while healing i the hospital, so my time is short. The meetings and unmet meeting death are always real close. Get it one and done without backtracking.”

"There has to be consequences for you not heeding to their warnings." Isao commented and gestured with one hand vaguely to the outside wall of the house. "Humans don't work that stealthily with those things. 

"They will find where I am and send Mama Deadlock's son after me. One that knows his way around fire if you know what i mean." He shot the demon a glare and their eyes locked for a moment. Emotions rolled in his stomach he tried to keep stamped down. Isao grinned though and finally relented and sat down beside Jesse. 

"The people who killed your family, sent to get you in their own desperation."

"Surely fold in on themselves during the fall, every man for himself." Isao added and glanced at the tv with a bored expression on his face

"For sure, every greedy bastard for himself, screw the others." Jesse replied in a mocking bravado. "Does that appease your curiosity?"

"Being straight forward right away would have been way easier, it would have brought less challenge to you and turmoil to the human." Jesse's eyebrows drew together before he leaned his head back and laughed. 

"Is that what brought on such self loathing thoughts? I hope Hanzo doesn't think that he will get me to admit something I don't feel. I have handled a hacker knowing my every move, watching my family burn in my family house, and dealing with two special ops men trying to drive my spine straight and back to a person of normal society. As much as there will be unpleasant moments it is nothing that I can't handle." There was a pause and Isao looked at him without saying a word for a few long seconds before he shook his head and chuckled. The duel tone sending shivers up his spine. 

"He is only partly convinced but now that you've brought it up surely the humans will be curious on what all happened in your life. I'm not the only curious one in this house."

"So you admit you're curious," Jesse pointed out and the demon scoffed. 

"I was never in denial." The reply was haughty and Jesse shook his head and sighed. 

"God I need a smoke," Jesse sighed and stood up. 

"Its a bit hard in your situation." The oni pointed out and there was a pause. 

"God damn it then I surely need a drink instead, but I bet there are none in the house." Jesse groused and took off his hat and propped his hands on his hips. "Almost calls for an early night."

"You just got up from a nap," Isao bluntly replied and Jesse groaned out loud and threw his hat at the demon. 

"You're a party pooper," Jesse groaned dramatically as the demon simply looked at his hat curiously as it whizzed by his head and landed on the arm of the couch. Isao, curious of the item, picked it up to inspect it. 

"I suppose I could let you go early for tonight, I did go against what the monk said, plus the vessel is wearing out and needs a break." Speaking so distantly of Hanzo as if a simply object irritated Jesse. He walked over and picked his hand out of the demon's grasp and went to set it back on his head before his face was captured by that warm clawed hand. 

"Don't mistake my kindness as being lax," Isao warned, his face getting very close to Jesse's. A grin spread across those blue lips and he chuckled. "You will be interesting indeed Jesse."

Their lips met, searing hot against his and Jesse's body seized up in surprise before he pulled away. He sputtered, trying to pull together words when all that came out was muddled English and broken Spanish. 

"Only to make things more interesting, this human is very curious about you, and take this as the hint."

"Curious and interested are two different things entirely," the comment finally made its way through his lips, but that wasn't at all what Jesse had intended to say to the grinning demon. He reeled from his own slip up and firmly planted the cowboy hat on his head. 

Jesse never made it up stairs faster in his life till then. With a curt and quick goodnight, he walked swiftly up the stairs and took the stairs two at a time till he was in his room. He shut the door behind himself and walked a few steps into his room and took his hat off and sighed, setting it on a few boxes still stacked in his room. 

"Stupid, Stupid, how dumb can you be Jesse." He scolded himself and pulled his socks off and tossed them into a corner to be picked up later. He walked over to the suitcase and unzipped it, digging around for his sleeping pants. 

He will admit to himself that Hanzo was very attractive, he felt attraction to the eldest Shimada almost immediately. The awkward conversations didn't mean much at all to Jesse, it just confirmed to him that Hanzo was in fact human like him. Of course with a special circumstances with his curse, but that was the same with every other cursed person on the planet. Jesse just figured that it would take a bit more talking to take Hanzo out of his shell, and he was right after seeing what happened at the house between the dogs and his parents. 

That changes things but he would try his best not to show it, he tried to promise himself. If he messed up then it definitely would be his big mouth or how he wasn't as sly as he thought he was. Nothing he couldn't handle. 

Jesse quickly got ready for bed, debating on brushing his teeth before deciding to skip it and instead just got his sleeping pants on and hopped into bed. The moment his head hit the pillow his eyelids grew heavy and he realized how truly sleepy he was. It only took a few lulling random thoughts before he went to sleep for the night.


	7. Chapter 7

All he could tell from the previous morning, was that he slept hard. He couldn't remember any dreams or when he fell asleep, or what put him to sleep, but all he knew was that it was 8 a.m and he couldn't fall back asleep as much as he really wanted to. His body felt like it was made of cement and he was all warm. It felt like it should be a sin for making him move, but there he was at 8:20 moving to get ready for the day.

 

With a sigh Jesse got up, his body aching due to the fact he got up too fast, the other aches came from his popping joints. He decided today would be a good day to go through some gentle stretches to ease some of the aches out of his body and to make sure that his body didn't get to stiff from the recovering injuries. Honestly, the stretches felt good and as he went to go touch his toes he felt his back pop in several places, and a sigh came from his lips at the tension that release in his body. 

Now that was over with, Jesse decided to gather his clothes and take a shower if the bathroom wasn't occupied by either of the brothers or Zenyatta. Quietly he eased open his door and peeked into the dark hallway barely illuminated by the rising dawn sun. A grin came to his face seeing the sun was rising, and that the bathroom was open because he felt icky and grimy after a day like yesterday. All of the packing, moving, and emotions always seemed to put him in weird moods.

The shower seemed to relax those muscles that had gotten sore from moving, and other parts of his body that were sore still from the accident and were healing. He sat under the warm spray for about twenty minutes before his fingers started to prune up and he woke up a bit more. 

Now came the harder part of his day, getting dressed. At first he underestimated how much effort it would take for him to dress himself in the morning, but here he found himself damp from his shower trying his damndest to pull his pants on after the laborious task of pulling on a t-shirt and he moved onto the next task of pulling on his pants. His pants weren't too bad with falling down yesterday, but he knew that with the pants he had grabbed today, he would need a belt or have to hike them up all day. Eventually he managed to do just that with a lot of effort and sitting down. The stub where his left arm was was still tender, but it was good for anchoring down the tongue of the belt. 

He got out of the bathroom 45 minutes later ready to tackle the day, almost, a cup of coffee would also do a lot to wake up him up the rest of the way. So he made it through the dim house, his way down the stairs barely illuminated by the dawn sunrise filling the house with warm orange light. In the kitchen, Jesse searched for a light and managed to flick one on after a small search. No one else seemed to be awake at this time in the morning, only him, so he ended up digging around in a few cupboards till he found the kettle and some instant coffee, this would do for now till Jesse could run into town and get a cheap coffee maker. He's had to make coffee like this plenty of times before, back when he was younger and his family would only give him cheap coffee because real coffee was for the adults. He had seen his mother and father make it for him before he eventually could do it himself. 

Once the water was on the stove, Jesse looked in the fridge, suddenly getting the idea to make breakfast while everyone was still asleep, and after sleuthing around, Jesse managed to come up with the idea for pancakes with everything that was in the fridge and cupboards. So as the water boiled he got the needed ingredients and tools out to make it. 

The pan was warming up, the batter was being made with a bit of creativity on how he planned on holding the bowl still, but everything managed to get done relatively smoothly considering the only things that were in the path of carnage was in fact a bit of badder on his shirt, and some flour on the counter he could clean up later. For now though he decided to just focus on cooking the pancakes and putting them on a plate. The pale batter made contact with the hot pan and butter and hissed slightly as it started to bake. His mind wandered for a moment as he thought of the strawberries and blueberries in the fridge he could bring out to put on the pancakes.

The kettle started to whistle and Jesse was quick to take it off the warm burner and onto a cold one in the back before going back to flip the pancakes currently poured into the pan. Everything was going as smooth as it could considering he had one hand, once those pancakes were flipped, he went and scooped a spoonful or two of instant coffee into the cup before adding the water and stirring it. As he stirred the mug there was a shuffle of footsteps and Jesse looked over his shoulder to see a freshly woken up Shimada lumber into the kitchen.

"Mornin'," he greeted Genji and went over to check on the pancakes in the pan. 

"Your up early, I thought you'd be asleep considering it was your first night of the 'job." Genji then seemed to take a longer look at all of what Jesse was doing. "Would you like some help? It probably isn't that easy doing it one handed."

"Some help would be great, if you don't mind, could you flip the pancakes." Jesse could feel a second wave of exhaustion start to hit him, one that could only be alleviated by the caffeinated drink sitting lukewarm on the counter.

"Sure," Genji agreed and plucked the spatula from his hand, and Jesse went to grab his coffee to stave off the sleepiness.The warm coffee seemed to perk him up and he looked over as Genji checked the pancakes to see if they were done.

"Actually last night wasn't too long, I calmed down Isao and he ended up realizing through our very mundane conversations how physically tired Hanzo was, and how tired I was since I was healing. We both ended up going to bed before Zen and Taku came back from their excursion.” Jesse replied before taking a sip of his coffee. The coffee was warm going down and it made him smile and sigh happily. 

“Isao hasn’t let hanzo have a true night’s sleep in almost a year, so I can only assume he will sleep through most of the evening. It is a real feat you managed last night Jesse.” Genji replied and started to flip the pancakes in the pain. “Though that doesn’t mean that he will be that easy on you all the time.” Genji threw him a glance and their eyes met before Jesse shrugged. 

“I’m not too worried, our contract and how Hanzo is helps me not worry too much about what Isao can or will do to me.” This caused Genji to laugh. 

“You’re strange, most people would be terrified-” he interrupted himself with more laughter, “boy Hanzo knows how to pick ‘em.” Jesse smiled and shook his head, taking another sip of coffee. The coffee wasn’t great, but it would do. 

“Well he didn’t exactly run into me, it was the other way around. His table was the closest cover from the shotgun fire. The nice metal tables of the Saloon by the family coffee shop. The tables were made of things from tires like hubcaps, actual tire rims, and old car license plates.” There was silence, there wasn’t much else that had to be said. 

“From a person who wasn’t exactly caught on the block when it happened, it was such a weird site to stumbleupon. It was my work for the most part to get Zen to where you were without any other interference, but Taku was more silent than usual.” Genji paused to put the pancakes on the plate and grabbed the batter before continuing. “Usually he’s running my ear off by noon, but it was almost 5 and the only word he said to me was “run” not in a teasing tone either.” Just the thought of it sent shivers up Jesse’s spine. 

“Isao said somethin’ out of the blue when he introduced himself the other night, somethin’ about that I had the Devil’s eyes. Its pretty odd comin’ from a demon.” Genji set the bowl of batter aside and leaned against the counter waiting for the pancakes to bake. 

“Taku seems to agree, but he says that you have eyes like death. He then went on to comment that it would work really well for intimidation.” Genji agreed and looked down at the pan and then back to Jesse. “It seems that they both want to take advantage of your curse.”

“They won’t be the first or the last, and the thing is I can’t give definitive answers. Actions from other people can change dates for better or worse.” Jesse set down his coffee. “Should we make some eggs too in case someone wants protein or not pancakes?” Jesse asked seeing that there were plenty of eggs in the fridge. 

“That’s a good idea, a nice breakfast, it will probably get you put on the rotating meal maker’s list.” Genji replied and grabbed another pan. 

“Spice up your life with some different meals,” Jesse grinned and set the eggs aside and grabbed a bit of the room temperature butter to put in the medium sized pan. “Scrambled okay?”

“Yep,” the p was popped but that was the answer Jesse needed to get started on the second half of breakfast. The water was put on the back burner to be reheated, the coffee was drank, Between the two of them the rest of breakfast took about 15 minutes to make, and within that time Genji had gotten Zenyatta up for breakfast, but waited to get Hanzo up because it was good that he was getting some well deserved sleep.

As Genji went to wake up Zenyatta, Jesse set the table, looking around for plates and silverware, put the chocolate chips and fruit on the table along with salt, pepper, and hot sauce.

“Good morning,” Zenyatta greeted with a stifled yawn as the kettle started to whistle. Jesse was swift to pull it off the burner and set it onto a cooling one, he smiled at the former monk before he started to put things onto the table. 

"Good Morning, you seem pretty chipper for such little sleep." Jesse couldn't help but comment as the plate of warm eggs made it to the table. 

"My curse helps me not feel the effects of exhaustion that usually happens to normal people. Isao is the more patient demon of the two so I'm glad you have him over Taku. He is like a toddler, needs constant attention. Zenyatta replied and went into the kitchen and fetched himself a mug and some tea. 

Jesse tilted his head slightly and looked at the table to make sure everything was there. "You never told me what your curse was, and I think its only fair that I told you mine so I should be able ta' know yours." He replied and leaned against the bar counter with a smile on his face. 

"Its healing cowman" a familiar tired voice spoke up and Jesse looked over and smiled as Hanzo walked into the kitchen bleary eyed and his hair a mess. 

"Yer' real lippy in the mornin'." Jesse retorted with no real heat in his voice and he tipped his hat at the eldest Shimada. "Look as fresh as a bed of roses though," he replied and Hanzo rose his eyebrows before snorting and went into the kitchen almost gravitating towards the tea. 

"Flattery will get you nowhere Jesse," Hanzo retorted and poured himself a cup of tea as his brother walked into the room. 

"Even if I got you a good night's rest last night?" Jesse inquired as he sat down at the table, a smirk playing on his lips as he received a withered glare but nothing else. 

"Your suppose to be asleep," Genji commented as he came back into the kitchen and Hanzo shrugged.

"You aren't the most quiet when you are awake, and my body wake itself up." Hanzo replied before he walked with Zenyatta to the table and took up two more seats, leaving the last one open for Genji. The green haired Shimada sat down and everything started to get passed around. Pancakes, eggs, syrup, salt, and pepper all staples to their meal. Except for the hot sauce that stayed sitting untouched on the table till McCree grabbed it. He started the innocent act of putting it on his eggs when there was a small noise of disgust. 

“Hot sauce on eggs?” Genji asked and looked at him with a quizzical look, and the cowboy furrowed his eyebrows before nodding. 

“It’s how I’ve always done it, my older sister puts ketchup on her eggs. It’s not bad either but doesn’t have the kick to it.” He replied nonchalantly before he stirred up his eggs and the hot sauce with his fork. 

“Your weird, Hanzo why do you attract the weird people?” Genji questioned but only glanced over at his brother before pointing at McCree’s plate. 

“You eat Natto Genji, so I wouldn’t be arguing over hot sauce on eggs.” Zenyatta replied with a chuckle. “Everyone has their preferences. 

“You’re weirder than any of the people I “attract” combined also, so you shouldn’t say anything.” Hanzo replied as well very calmly and not looking up from his meal. 

“Don’t diss it till ya’ try it, that’s what they say back home, and I can safely say that we’re all a bit weird. Keeps things interestin’.” Jesse pushed the hot sauce back to the middle of the table. 

"How did this go from talking about hot sauce on eggs to dissing me?" Genji asked as he cut into his short stack of pancakes. Jesse grinned and rolled his eyes as he decided not to answer that and instead just ate his eggs. 

"Because you were being judgmental, even though you can be just as weird as McCree may be." Zenyatta said diplomatically. 

"Just call me Jesse, McCree is too formal." He was never one for formal after all. For as long as he could remember his family was never too formal. Instead they decided not to keep the back straight, up tight, old ways, but with a family like his it wouldn't have gone well regardless.

His gaze couldn't help but flick up to look at Hanzo, who was focused more on eating than the conversation at hand, his hair mess and uncombed, and that deep wrinkle between his eyebrows; with those dark eyes focused down at the plate, Jesse knew that Hanzo was still mad at him for what happened in the truck still. That didn't dismiss the fact that he was very good looking. Jesse went back down to eating in silence like everyone else at the table, trying to enjoy the morning as his mind inevitably went to how handsome Hanzo was. 

Through the few weeks he was in the hospital he got to know Hanzo pretty well from the few innocent stories they shared from childhood, at that time they both seemed to be avoiding the bombs that are events in their previous years of life. There was a lot of time to think in the hospital especially, so this wouldn't be the first time that Jesse would think of Hanzo like he is. 

Despite some rough patches, like everyone has, Hanzo was caring, sincere in his interest for everyone's well being, and just needed some support as much as he tried to support his brother and other friends; Along with the fact that Hanzo was smokin' hot: with those strong cheekbones, dark eyes he could stare into all day long without getting bored, and Jesse cut off his own thoughts when his mind started to drift the other's toned body and what he wouldn't mind doing to it, or letting the other do to him. 

Instead he focused on eating and what he could possibly do to get him and Hanzo to make amends, because being mad at each other wouldn't help them converge together on a plan to get him free from Deadlock's grasp once and for all. 

She dies in three weeks. He reminded himself and he glanced around the table, everyone seemed a bit tired, not enough energy to start a conversation, or keep one. That was sure to change after breakfast and they would get some energy in their systems, but till then he was content with the silence. 

Breakfast ended within 10 focused minutes of silence and slowly waking up. Jesse was done first and started to clear the table and fill the sink with warm water so he could wash the dishes seeing as there was no dishwasher in sight. Not that it mattered at all, he has had to wash dishes by hand plenty of times in his life, and he remembered the steps his mother went through every time she did the dishes too. 

His dishes sat soaking in the sink as he picked up things everyone was done with and stored them in their proper places, the rest he could either get later, or the others would put back in their places. There was a chuckle that broke McCree from his thoughts and he looked over to see an amused looking Zenyatta. 

"What's so funny?" He asked propping his one hand on his hip and he rose an eyebrow. The former monk grinned and waved off as if to dismiss the posture Jesse had settled in. 

"Nothing, its just that I noticed you like to keep busy. You've been running around doing dishes and putting stuff away for a few minutes now without a word."

Jesse dropped the hand from his hip and he smiled, "I'm not one for standin' around, that's why i hate sitting in hospitals. I ain't doin' nothin', nothing is getting done."

"Even though that is the point of resting and healing in the hospital." Zenyatta pointed out and Jesse snorted but went over to the sink to start on the dishes. One hand meant he had to do it a lot slower. 

"I know that, doesn't mean I hafta' like it."

"Trust me, Genji and Hanzo are the same way," his voice was closer, and Jesse looked over as Zenyatta silently offered to do the dishes, seeing Jesse flounder to try to keep the plate still in the sink. A sheepish grin appeared on his face before he stepped aside and let Zenyatta take over. "After this I can show you some of the translated journals, there are only a few, so there isn't much information to go off of." Zenyatta seemed to trail off but Jesse got the gist. 

"How many are there in total? If you don't mind me asking." The question seemed harmless enough, and Zenyatta hummed as if thinking. 

"Four in total, what would be the rest of the journals was burned to conceal the Shimada Clan's illegal activities. The four that we have available were stolen by Hanzo and Genji." The reply was simple and made sense. 

"If their father had the journals on lock down in the first place, and it was watched closely enough not to be opened until his death, I'd be the same as Hanzo and Genji with takin' a few." Jesse replied and leaned against the counter, his hand fiddling with the edge of the countertop. "Enough not to be suspicious, but with enough books to get info out of them. At least I hope."

There was a hum yet no immediate response, "The Journals are vague yet specific, not really clear on many things." Zenyatta looked over at Jesse but set the dishes in the rack to dry. "Another mind trying to decipher this would be nice."

 

Jesse leaned against the counter and let out a contemplative hum, "I don't know how much I can be of help. I was never the brightest kid in school," he admitted and stood back up as Zenyatta finished up the silverware. 

"Doesn't mean you can't help give a different perspective on a few personal journals. I just want a different perspective is all, and that can help a lot considering i've had the same two other perspectives for the past few years." Zenyatta soothed and set the last of the clean dishes aside and faced Jesse. "And you being cursed as well in a different way may help with the different perspective too. Shall we get going then?" He asked and Jesse gestured for the other to lead.

Zenyatta took the lead and walked up the stairs and down the hall towards his room. He opened the door to a very warm and homey room with plenty of decorations that probably reminded the monk of home. Jesse let out a low whistle and smiled as he walked in. 

"Real nice place you got here, these from Nepal?" He stabbed a thumb in the direction of the tapestries. The shorter male took his attention away from the bookshelf and notebooks he was leafing through to look over at what was being question. His face seemed to light up at the mention of home and he nodded. 

"It is, it was a gift from my brother for my 22nd birthday. It was a year before I left with Genji and Hanzo, so its just a bit of home." Zenyatta turned back to the bookshelf and made a soft "a-ha," as he pulled out four very thin notebooks that were very well used and loved. He handed them over to Jesse and walked back out of the room. "Those are the English translated version of the journals, Hanzo thought it might mean something else in a different language, so he translated them himself along with my help. Nothing conclusively different but convenient to have."

Curiously Jesse propped open one of the notebooks and looked at the handwriting. It was very neat but a few letters seemed very close together, but something that he could easily read. 

"Very, at least it will be an interesting read." He replied and snapped the notebook back shut. They made it to the bottom of the stairs and Jesse went over to sit down on the couch, notebooks in his lap.

"It is very interesting to see how they did things from a different perspective than Genji or Hanzo." Zenyatta agreed and picked up the book from the top. "I have marked a few pages I have found interesting and that may have some insight onto the curse. He flipped open the think book and flipped to a page with a small blue tab sticking out of it. There he held it open for both of them and browsed the page before pointing a paragraph in particular. 

"This talks about Sojiro's own demon, and how in his "old age" he felt that the control between him and the demon was flimsier." Zenyatta looked at Jesse, "I think maybe its because he was close to death and the demon could sense it and wanted to get his stuff done and put Sojiro's stuff on the back burner. Taku has told me multiple times that he has his things that he plans on doing and he knows that Genji doesn't approve, but it doesn't seem that he cares either. The demons don't have to think about that currently, all they think of is how to do what they think is best for them and their host to live longer." 

He flipped the page and pointed to the top where the topic continued, "He commented that the oni tended to get out more often, breaking away from the room they trapped him in." 

"Trapped? Didn't they have anyone to deal with 'im like his wife or somethin'?" Jesse asked and Zenyatta shook his head and started to flip to a different tab. 

"Genji and Hanzo's mother died when they were young, so they don't have much experience when it comes to seeing a demon in control." This raised alarm bells in Jesse's head as he hummed and set the other notebooks on the coffee table in front of him. He was going to speak up when a door opened and closed behind them. Jesse looked over his shoulder and saw Hanzo freshly showered and dressed for the day. 

"Hey Hanzo, I have a quick question if ya' don't mind answering it." Jesse spoke up and turned slightly to face where Hanzo was, but there seemed to be no use in it as Hanzo's only response was a glance over at him before he went back into his room. A frown hinted at the corner of Jesse's lips as he sat back forward and sighed. "Angrier than hell over nothin', and I'm gonna have to clear the air later." He sighed and looked over at Zenyatta. "Is he always this way?"

Zenyatta looked concerned but shook his head, "he's usually very hesitant around new people, but he seemed pretty comfortable with you when you were in the hospital. What happened between then and now?" The former monk seemed to have his own curiosity streak and Jesse shrugged. 

"He tried arguin' with me in the car that I would find him a pain in the ass because of the demon. I tried to tell him that I have been around a hell of a lot more people worse than him in my life time, but he doesn't seem to believe me in the slightest. Deadlock wasn't a walk in the park, I got thrown under the bus more times than I can count. I feel like I've been handling Isao real well so far, and can definitely handle anything that he throws my way." 

"Others have said that before, and have died from being around them. This was in the past back when the stragglers and bounty hunters were after them, but its calmed down since then. Hanzo feels like its on his head that the people Isao killed or the bounty hunters killed are on his head." Zenyatta explained and all Jesse could muster up to do was to shake his head. 

"I have the same problem with this curse," Jesse admitted and picked up the notebook, mindlessly flipping through the pages without reading them. "I feel real guilty right now that the assholes from Deadlock came in an' killed dozens of innocent people. They were after me and will do a lot to get what they want." Jesse paused on another tabbed page at the back of the book. "I know it truly ain't my fault that those people killed civilians, but I can't help but feel guilty because they were after me in the first place." He pointed to the tab and looked at Zen, "but that's more for later, we're gettin' too off topic. Why did ya' mark this page? More on the oni or something about the brothers."

 

~*~*~*~*~*~ 

After the heavy topic they talked about the journal and theories for a while, and all in that time Hanzo hadn't come out of his room, but Genji had gone in and out of various rooms in the house, and even from outside. He was the source to Jesse's burning questions.Zenyatta ended up needing to run an errand he almost forgot to run, and Genji tagged along which left Jesse and Hanzo alone at the house.

He debated knocking on Hanzo's door and clearing the air of this unneeded tension, but ended up getting engrossed in the first journal. He only got through half of it before he had to take a break though, all the talk of bribes, puppeteering, and killing of traitors had Jesse's mind reeling. Sojiro expected so much out of Hanzo and hardly mentioned Genji at all in the journals. The underground business on top of the "legal" one, and having their fingers in a lot of pies, from the government to everything in Hanamura itself. Everything from this higher ranked gang that no longer existed, was wiped from the map, or was hiding very well in the underground. The cowboy guessed that it was the first option though, such a big company wouldn't let everything go and hide unless it was something very big and threatening enough. Nothing that big and threatening existed unless they were talking about the UN, and they hardly stuck their nose in anything anymore after they bit themselves in the ass.

Now more than ever Jesse felt that pressing need to clear the air with Hanzo now that he knew even the smallest bit of background information that he hadn't been supplied earlier.With a sigh he pulled himself from the soft couch and made his way towards Hanzo's room with little hesitation. It was only a few strides before he was standing in front of the door, and he hesitated for a moment, shifting the weight on his feet around, until he knocked on the door. One second, two, three, no answer. He knocked again after counting twenty seconds in his head. There was no way that Hanzo would be asleep right now, it was too early in the afternoon.

"Hanzo, I know yer' awake." He started off and he took a few steps from the door. "I think we should clear the air, take a walk or somethin'. If we're gonna be in this situation for a while, there's no use livin' it all mad at each other." They were adults, they could handle themselves in such a matter, at least he hoped, and he would be the first to admit that sometimes it doesn't quite happen that way.

There was a soft shuffling on the other side of the door before it swung open suddenly to expose an annoyed looking Hanzo. There was a bit of tense silence before Jesse stepped a bit farther out of the doorway. "Any place you have in mind in particular?" Hanzo finally spoke up and the cowboy couldn't help but smile.

"This is yer' neck of the woods darlin', so I thought you'd have a few ideas in mind for where we could take our walks. Its your choice because I ain't too picky, jus' please not rock climbing" he said and smiled gesturing with his stump of an arm to emphasis why. Slowly he meandered back into the living room with the metallic footfalls of Hanzo behind him.

"I have a place then, I'll lead the way." Hanzo replied and walked towards the front door where Jesse's boots were and waited patiently. That's right, hanzo wouldn't need shoes due to his prosthetics.

"Sounds good ta' me," he agreed and sat down before he yanked on his boots with trained efficiency, but it wasn't quite as smooth one handed as it usually was with two. That would change soon though he hoped.

Once he was ready and back on his feet, Hanzo lead the way out the door and instead of doing down towards the driveway he took an immediate right towards the claim of large trees that stood over there. A hike was fine by him. Neither of them said anything for a while, and nature seemed to fill the air with conversation. the birds chirped and the small wildlife ran around in the leaves and bushes around them. Jesse was gathering what he was about to say to start off the conversation when the archer did it instead.

"I am sorry for judging you like I did, but I hope you can understand that I have had previous experiences that make me heir on the side of caution." Hanzo started and slowed his pace a bit so he was closer to McCree. Jesse paused to process what was just said before he nodded.

"I understand that darlin', but I hope you can give me a bit of a chance as well. Prove myself different then those that wronged you or otherwise. Everyone's different and bunching them together is a bit unreasonable.” Jesse replied but followed it up quickly, "It seems that we got off on the wrong foot with the important stuff, nothing we can't fix though."

"Be more honest with each other than not, dealing with Deadlock won't get easier if we don't work together. Right now they're the biggest threat and Isao isn't taking your avoidance on what he wants as lightly as he's portraying it." Hanzo replied and finally looked over at Jesse not quite so irritated but calm and even slightly worried.

"They ain't so nice to deal with in general, but if I'm right, then they'll be sendin' someone out here to get me that I have a particular vendetta 'gainst." Jesse replied and brushed a branch out of the way so he wouldn't hit his head. "If we deal with him, Deadlock with fall apart at the seams."

"Who is this person then? If we get a head start on knowing who he is, then the rest of us can help there too if needed." Hanzo offered, "But i doubt they'd send one person alone to get you if you've avoided them for this long."

"Your right on that," He agreed with a sigh. "The guy they'll be sending this way is the next in command, Mama Deadlock's boy, Ian, one who has a thing for fire if you know what i mean." He replied with a grunt as a branch swung and hit him in the chest. "I see we're off the beaten path," he groaned and pushed the branch out of his way so he could continue beside Hanzo. He heard a soft chuckle and saw the eldest Shimada shaking his head.

"Just what we need, a pyro around in these woods," Hanzo sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand.

"All I'm sayin' is have some water or extinguishers ready because this asshole has no mercy, but if we plan it right we can have the Police and Firemen on call so we don't have to deal with it ourselves. Four is a lot easier to get stuff done than just one." Jesse replied and looked over at Hanzo.

"I am sorry if this is personal, but how would they know where you are? You've probably changed your name, addresses, cities, states, but how can they track you so quickly."

"It wasn't quick, they dug through files to find my history. They must have tracked for months if not years for a trail we thought my sister swept clean, but some way they ended up tracing Joel Morricone back to lil’ ol’ Jesse McCree.” Jesse looked over and saw the expression on Hanzo’s face and nodded. “Had to change my name in Deadlock because i knew shit would go south no matter what.”

“Then why join? If you knew that joining Deadlock wasn’t a good choice then why start in the first place?” It seemed like such a simple question, but there were so many ifs in the situation back when Jesse had made the choice. 

“Either I joined them and lived, or tried to run away from them and die.” A scoff left Hanzo’s lips. 

“Typical, yet here you are running away even after you took the first option.” Hanzo sneered, not in disapproval of what Jesse did, but instead disapproval of what Deadlock did. 

Ducking away from a branch, Jesse muttered, “yea, but I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. There is a reason I don’t tell anyone about my curse. The only people who have taken it in stride are the ones who have stayed in my life the past decade.” The trees gave way to a small clearing, but Hanzo continued straight. 

“I’m sorry to hear that, being cursed usually does feel like you are cursed when your around people like that. I can assure you that I am not around you for your curse despite Isao’s incseccent questions.” Hanzo almost seemed to grit out that last part and Jesse couldn’t help but smile. 

“I know, you haven’t asked about it since we met. You don’t seem to care when you die, and will just go with the flow. I can’t see my own date so that’s how I have to live.” He could die from this next run into Deadlock and he’d have no clue, but he learned not to worry. He accepted his death long ago, back in Deadlock, but Gabriel and Jack helped give him a reason to live. “I appreciate it, really, yer’ too sweet to me.” 

“It’s not being sweet, it’s having courtesy,” Hanzo replied but looked over at him and smiled. A soft, sweet, sincere smile, and it caught Jesse completely off guard. 

“Of course it’s being sweet, you don’t owe me any courtesy yet you give it to me. If anything I should be giving you courtesy for taking me in like this.”

“It’s the only way Isao saw to protect you all the time once it was revealed that a gang is after you, let alone a ruthless one. A blood bond means that the contract can’t be destroyed, and the only way to get rid if it is to do as it says.” Jesse clucked his tongue and he shoved his hands into his pockets. 

“Gotta’ admit though, his thinkin’ does make sense.” McCree countered and pointed a finger at Hanzo, whom pushed it away with a quiet scoff. Of course he didn’t have to live with the demon all the time. “There is something I’ve been wondering about though,” Jesse said and pushed another branch out of the way. “In the verbal contract, it never said how long that you’d protect me from “threats”, so does it just go on till people stop wantin’ ta’ kill me, or does it end when Deadlock stops chasing me?” The question caused both of them to halt in their walk entirely and they looked at each other. “I mean, i help you solve how to control the demons, a year or two at most, but people wanting to kill me are plenty.” The gestures he made were sweeping and vague.

“I wish I could have been the one making the contract and not him. You were almost dead and he manipulated it so he’d have you as “entertainment” for as long as he pleased. Seeing how well you are doing too, I doubt he’d let you go any time soon.” They started walking again after a bit of silent thought. 

“But it’s for as long as my life is threatened, why would he do the variable he can’t control? For fun ‘er somethin’?” It was a rhetorical question, but even if it wasn’t it seemed that neither of them had the answer. 

“Everyone is different, demons aren’t excluded in that, but I’d rather have Isao than Taku. The reason Zenyatta is with Taku during the evening because Taku will take any doubt that Genji has and will twist it against himself, thus giving him a good reason to be reckless and hurt the host’s body to see how much it can take.” Hanzo glanced out of the corner of his eye at Jesse. “Isao is more of a chess player, a planner, a demon who wants to know everything if it involves them in the slightest. The day I will die has been a question he’s been wanting to get answered ever since I became his host when I was little.”

“Is that why you’re so level headed and Genji acts so confident?” This had been the most that they had talked about the situation or the curses, even in the hospital they kept the conversation less bleak. 

“Any foolish thoughts of mine were extinguished by the prodding mind of Isao up until I could block him out, and the same with Genji. Any doubts he had were capitalized on, and he wasn’t the happiest child growing up, even if he faked it really well.” Hanzo said quietly as he he stepped over a fallen tree. “At the time we were eight or nine when the ritual was done, and it took till we were 15 to have all we could do as the hosts mastered to keep the oni’s in check. That didn’t stop them from going on their little self driven quests, defiling our bodies to get to their end goal, but they never went as far as to kill us. We’d wake up at home in the nurse’s room, missing days of memory and a lot of blood.” 

Hanzo’s expression had morphed into one of those of pain, distance in his eyes, and it was a look Jesse had seen on too many people in his life. He set his hand heavily on Hanzo’s shoulder for comfort. 

“No need to explain further,” mus’ be harder than hell ta’ deal with. I just hope that I can do somethin’ to help. Right now I can only assume I am because of the reactions I got when I managed to talk Isao into lettin’ ya’ sleep.” The hand on Hanzo’s shoulder lingered for a few more seconds before it was used to swat away a branch. “How much farther is our destination, I’m tired of almost getting my head cut off by all these branches.”

“It’s your fault for being so tall,” the retort was a quick little quip and Hanzo looked over at Jesse with an indifferent expression, but there was some mischievous gleam in his eyes and the corner of his mouth twitched.

“Aw, I can’t help genetics darlin’,” Jesse lamented mockingly.

“Genetics, as if, its a placebo effect of living with Gabriel and Jack, you’re all the same height.” Hanzo threw Jesse a grin, “I feel bad for your sister, probably shorter than all of you, and living with a bunch of giants.” Jesse’s eye widened for a moment seeing how relaxed Hanzo was so suddenly, his posture was relaxed, and that was one of the few times he had seen Hanzo smile till now. 

“Ouch, such a deadly blow, I don’t think i can live through it.” Jesse groaned, putting his hand over his chest. Probably at the wrong time considering he got whacked by a lower branch Hanzo was moving out of the way. It hit his stomach with a firm whack and Jesse groaned, moving out of the way of the branch.Pain radiated from the spot that was hit and the breath was knocked from himself. 

A sudden and sharp laugh left Hanzo’s lips, and he was covering his mouth when the cowboy looked up at him. His shoulders quivered as they stopped. “Are you okay?” Hanzo choked out between fits of muffled laughter. 

“I’ll be fine, it will leave a nasty bruise though,” he wheezed and attempted to stand straight, but inevitably still bent over a bit as the pain still lingered. 

“I mean for that to prove my point,” Hanzo said and wiped at his eyes, about lapsing into a laughing fit again. 

“Har har, let's get to this mysterious location, thank you for being so concerned about my wellbeing Hanzo.” Jesse retorted with no real heat behind his words, instead his words spurred them back into walking. 

“We aren’t that far away, just up ahead is our location.” Hanzo soothed with too smug smirk he tried to hid. 

“Did you do that on purpose?” Jesse inquired and picked up his speed so he walked beside Hanzo and he leaned forward a bit to get a glimpse of Hanzo’s face he looked away. 

“Of course not,” the archer scoffed and cleared his throat. “Why would I hurt you on purpose?”

“That lil’ smug ass smirk you have on your face isn’t helpin’ your case.” Jesse deadpanned and looked ahead of them. “Was it to get back at me for somethin’?”

“No, I promise it wasn’t on purpose,” Hanzo assured obviously suppressing laughter. “It is not my fault you talk with your hands cowboy.” 

“An’ this hand can do a lot without its partner.” Before Hanzo could question he let out a loud squawk of protest as he suddenly found the ground under his feet no longer there. Instead Hanzo was a foot or two off the ground with a certain cowboy pressed to his side. 

“Let me down,” Hanzo huffed and looked over at Jesse who just gave him a lazy grin. The cowboy let out a contemplative hum before shaking his head. 

“Naw, I gotta get revenge somehow, that hurt like hell.” Jesse replied and shifted his grip and hoisted Hanzo higher. 

“I didn’t mean it, i’ve told you many times before,” Hanzo replied and Jesse snorted. 

“If you were pinocchio your nose would be 4 feet long by now.”

“Okay, maybe i meant only a bit of it, but i didn’t think it was going to hit that hard.” Hanzo confessed and looked down at the ground. “Now let me down, we’re almost to the destination.” Jesse relented and did in fact let Hanzo down and let him lead the rest of the way to the site. 

Their destination was a lake, a small campsite clearing that gave way to stairs and a small dock for people to fish and do other things in their free time. Jesse doubted they would boat in the lake with how he saw some large patches of weeds in the distances, but maybe people just avoided those spots. There were trees in every direction, and the sun was laying low but just above the treeline. It was fall after all. 

“Its gorgeous,” Jesse said and stood there in awe. 

“It’s a good place to visit when you have a lot on your mind. Away from people, away from distractions, just a place to wind down.” Hanzo had kept on walking, and was headed towards the stairs and down to the dock. Jesse jogged and caught up with the elder Shimada. He glanced over at Hanzo, at the soft unguarded look on his face. Usually Hanzo seemed like he had many walls between himself and anyone he talked to, the only exception he saw was Genji. 

“Seems like you’ve had a lot of time to think about this,” The dock’s wood planks groaned under their combined weight, but that was all it did. They both chose to ignore it and continued down the path to the bench bolted to the square landing. 

“I need to get away from Genji at some point, he can be obnoxious as hell if he wants to be.” Hanzo replied and sat down on the bench, Jesse sat down beside him with less grace. 

“That’s will all families, everyone needs space.” Jesse agreed and rubbed his thumb with the grain of the wood bench. 

“Speaking of which,” Hanzo turned to face Jesse and the serious expression on his face alarmed the other. “I would like to thank you for not getting mad at everything that has happened in the past few weeks.” Unconsciously a smile came to Jesse’s face, but Hanzo continued. “Considering this, I hope our future will be as easy as it can be, and welcome to the “family”.” 

Jesse found himself getting pushed off the bench and into the water, he tried to reach with his left arm to grab the dock but realized it wasn’t there. “Son of a bi-,” was all he got out before he plunged under the lukewarm water, his hat floating lazily to the top of the water as Jesse’s knees hit the bottom, this part of the lake easily 8 feet. He pushed up and sputtered, wiping at his eyes and grabbing his hat and tossing it onto the safety of the dock. A shadow loomed over him and he saw Hanzo looking smugly down at him. “You seem mighty satisfied with yourself.” He groused and reached over and gripped the edge of the dock and looked up at the other. 

“I didn’t think it would go that well,” Hanzo admitted and offered a hand. 

“Thank you darlin’, its kinda hard to get out of the water one handed.” He accepted the hand and braced his torso against the side of the dock, and feet against a metal leg under the dock. . An idea came into mind, and before the eldest Shimada could realize his mistake, Jesse tugged him into the water with him, his legs pushing off of the metal support on the dock to give that last little tug. Hanzo plunged into the water back first, and Jesse smiled, swimming the short distance back to the dock where he dug underwater and tossed his boots up on the surface next. The water surged up behind him and angry Japanese flew from Hanzo’s mouth.

“Your own medicine is twice as bitter ain’t it?” Jesse said underlaced with a chuckle as he started to pull himself out of the water one armed. 

“I admit it, you fooled me,” Hanzo relented but still had his eyebrows drawn together to show his displeasure. 

“Now we both have to walk home cold and wet, I may have to barefoot because my boots are so wet.” Jesse lamented and flopped onto the dock and sighed. Hanzo nudged him and he looked at the archer before rolling over and standing up to give the other room to get out of the lake. 

“This isn’t how i anticipated coming down here going,” Hanzo lamented and slipped his shirt off to wring it off. Hanzo was very muscular and Jesse couldn’t stop himself from whistling. 

“Me either, I didn’t know we were going to strip.” This being said as Jesse took off his own shirt. Hanzo leaned back and laughed, ended up snorting before laughing even more. Though he looked over and the laugh stopped startlingly fast. Jesse was fit, a bit more hairy than the other, but that isn’t what stopped him from laughing. 

“Have you always had that mark?” Hanzo asked, his eyes widening slightly and poked a finger at one of the dragons the curled on his torso. It felt like a snap of electricity against the touch and Jesse flinched away, Hanzo pulled his hand back as well evidently feeling the same. 

“No, Isao gave it to me the night he visited in the hospital room. Said that it would disappear when the contract is done.” He replied and rubbed where he had been shocked, the pain throbbing and lingering. 

“Shit,” Hanzo sneered and started to pull on his wet shirt again. “The mark makes one thing very sure, that Isao has no intention of letting you go any time soon. The larger the mark, the longer it will take to finish the contract.”

“How do you know that for sure?” Jesse asked and slipped on his wet boots, cringing. 

“Because Zeyatta’s takes up his whole back and has barely faded in the five years we’ve known him.” The statement didn’t stop Hanzo’s movements as he continued to try and dry himself off, but it had the opposite effect on McCree. He stopped in his tracks and ran a hand through his unruly and wet hair. 

“Well shit, Isao’s sly now ain’t he,” The reply came with the waterlogged hat being put on his head, and a stream of water slipping down Jesse’s back. “We should get back though, now that our little fun trip has ended with us both lookin’ like a pair of drown rats.”

It didn’t take too long for both of them to dry off the best they could without a towel and head back to the cabin. Now that they had nothing pressing to talk about, there was silence, and it was the type of silence that made Jesse antsy. 

“Was there any mischief you and your brother use to do as kids?” Jesse asked and looked over at Hanzo as he ducked out of the way of a low branch. 

“Not really, the maids would usually catch on before we could pull pranks on them, and we couldn’t pull a fast one on dad. Our mischief was usually going on the town as ourselves and just pranking innocent people with harmless pranks.” Their eyes met for a moment, and for a fleeting second neither of them looked away, and Hanzo was the one to break the eye contact. 

“How about you? Do anything mischievous since you brought up the topic?”

“If you count gluing Jack and Gabe’s hands together while they were asleep on the couch, then yes.” Hanzo’s eyes widened and looked at him with disbelief. 

“You did not,” Hanzo sputtered and stepped out of the way of a branch. 

“It was me and my sister Olivia, she did one hand I did the other. They woke up and got mad and chased us in the yard for hours. They couldn’t use their hands individually but together they managed to get us. I was a bit frustrated with their rules and so was Olivia, and this was a few months into us living there. We were taken in around the same time, Olivia was found parentless in a natural disaster down in Mexico and Gabe wanted to give me a second chance after they interrogated me. I would be in jail if it wasn’t for them.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what were you going to be put in jail for?” Hanzo asked carefully as if treading on ice. 

“Murder, gun smuggling, drug smuggling, everything every other Deadlock member would. Most of the people from the night I was caught died, only a dozen of us came out alive. I don’t know what Gabe saw in me in particular, but it took a few weeks to sort things out. Out of some god damned miracle I didn’t plea guilty in court. It took years to get me to integrate back into society, my curse being one thing, getting my head on straight was a different thing.”

“How did you plea innocent? In those cases its nearly impossible to plea anything but guilty.”

“Deadlock killed my biological family and I was forced to go with them, and on top of that they wanted to make sure that it was truly the case. They put me in a room with a girl, about 12, we talked for a while. Didn’t do anything bad to her, but when she mentioned she had cancer and her family refused to give her chemotherapy. Her date was pretty close, a few months in, so I ended up telling her to try and convince anyone to give her Chemo. I have seen it work miracles with others before, and I told her that if she wanted to live longer, that would be the best option, or by the end of the year she’d be dead.” Jesse sighed and took his wet hat and held it at his side. “Her date changed instantly, and I had been subjected to at least a dozen people with different morals. They used that to prove my innocence, and being in the house of two retired military men they just had me check in every few months. Keep my record clean, i get off scot free in ten years, all of it wiped off my record.” 

“That was very nice of the court,” there was a soft hum and Jesse hit his hat against his thigh. 

“It is my second chance we like to call it.”

“Everyone deserves one after all,” Hanzo agreed and looked at Jesse. “How long has it been since then?”

“Almost 20 year now, it will be 20 years in July.”

“Genji and I managed to jump our father once, water above the door frame, and we held it on string on both sides of the door. We sat there for two hours waiting, our dad came out and we dumped the water on him. He was really mad at us, but we didn’t get him at all after that.”

The conversation continued like that till they got back to the house, much lighter topics about childhood, like the ones they talked about when Jesse was still in the hospital.


	8. Chapter 8

The rest of the evening went along the same lines, even when they all piled onto the couch to watch a Romantic Comedy with a few bowls of popcorn between the four of them. Home Again was the movie, Genji’s choice. Jesse had taken one of the corners and Hanzo ended up right beside him so they could share a bowl of popcorn. 

“What in the hell is she thinking, George is obviously the better choice compared to unreliable Teddy.” Jesse scoffed and continued to watch the movie. “Obviously he likes her, but is forced to clean up after his friend.”

“Teddy is too young and immature for a woman like her, with her being 40, George is the most level headed.”

“Can you two shut up and just enjoy the movie over there.” Genji called from the opposite side of the couch. 

““Not with this stupid bullshit goin' on." Jesse piped in as Hanzo said at the same time "She’s blinder than a bat.” Zenyatta laughed.. 

“You two should kiss already, you’ve been talking like that non-stop since you met. Maybe it would shut you both up for a few seconds.” The retort was sharp coming from Genji. 

“If you wanna get real technical here, we have.” Jesse pointed out, his hand forming a finger gun. The comment earned the movie to be paused, even Hanzo seemed surprised. 

“We have not,” he squawked and sat up from where he was leaning against him. 

“Technically we have darlin’, Isao’s done it a few time already. Considering y’all share a body we have technically kissed. He was sayin’ something like he was acting on your emotions.” Hanzo ran a hand through his hair and cussed Japanese, obviously frustrated. “Don’t worry about it sweetpea, its fine, I have no problem with it.”

Hanzo shifted slightly to face him, surprise written all over his face despite the fact he was still mad at what had been happening. He stared at his face, obviously assessing if he was being serious. “Why?” A simple question, but so many more questions were thinly veiled underneath that one. 

“For two reason in particular,” one finger went up, and he smiled, “First off, I’m as gay as my fathers, so getting kissed by another man wouldn’t bother me. Didn’t get stabbed ‘r anything so I find that as a plus.” A second finger joined the first, “You’re very attractive, even if it is Isao who kissed me how I see it is that he’s just borrowing your body. Don’t try to argue that either, because you’re very attractive and I was very surprised when you said you were single, and from what I see people are missin’ out on someone great.” 

Every word that came from Jesse’s mouth helped get rid of the pinch between Hanzo’s eyebrows and surprise him more and more, even to the point where a soft blush appeared on his cheeks. He looked away from the cowboy and leaned further into the back of the couch. He pressed play on the remote and nodded.

“I see, thank you,” a short and tight reply as everyone looked back to the movie. 

By the end of the movie they were back to trashing her choice of men, and the bowl of popcorn was on the coffee table. The time was just past midnight when the movie got done and Jesse was first off the couch, feeling a bit antsy. 

“I’ll clean the bowls out,” He offered and grabbed the bowls on the coffee table. 

“Thank you, that would be great. I think it’s about time Hanzo and I got to bed as well. I can tell that Taku is getting very antsy.” Genji stood up with a sigh and flipped to the late night news.   
“I was thinking the same thing,” Hanzo agreed and stretched out. 

“That would be a good idea, you don’t want to make them mad at you again.” Zenyatta hummed and pulled the DVD from the player and put it back into its case. 

“We can clean up, you don’t need to worry about it.” Jesse glanced at the news and saw it was the weather. 

“That reminds me,” Zenyatta slipped the movie onto the shelf and stood up. “While you two are falling asleep, I need got something at the clinic for McCree.” The mystery of what the item was caught Jesse’s attention as he picked the stacked popcorn bowls back up. 

“Oh, did I forget something?” Jesse asked as Genji had walked around the couch and said goodnight. 

“You did, let’s go into the entryway, I left it in there getting distracted earlier.” Zenyatta got up and lead the way through the living room and into the kitchen. Jesse paused in the kitchen and let the former monk walk into the entryway and picked up a clean white box. He came back with a soft smile on his face. “Ana actually told me to bring it to you,” the box was set on the kitchen counter and opened to reveal a sleek metal arm. “Torb had dropped it off when his daughter was getting an exam.” Zenyatta said and pulled it from the box and turned it for Jesse to look out. “Its a basic model, but one that will last a while.”

“The main concern, I know these things ain’t cheap.” Jesse said in awe as he reached out and compared the mechanical one to his actual arm. “It’s even ‘ta size.”

“Being symmetrical has become very important, it completes a look without being more obvious if its too big or small. Unless the patient wants that asymmetry.” Zenyatta set the arm on the counter and dug in the box for the other supplies that were to go with the prosthetic arm. “Do you want the arm on tomorrow or tonight?”

“I’ve been dyin’ to get two arms back, if its doable i’d like ta’ get it on tonight.”

“It is more than doable, but it might be a bit painful getting this on. We have to link your arm into a port then into the arm. So it will mess with the nerves.” Zenyatta warned and started to prepare things, not looking up at Jesse. 

“I’ve been hurt too many times for my own good, it should be no problem.” Jesse replied with a grin and offered his stump. The stump was wiped with an alcohol wipe and Zenyatta put a silicone sleeve on his stump with wires running through it, the base of the wires located right at the center of the stump. 

“You will feel a pinch and possibly sharp pain, this is common and should go away as your nerves adjust to the port. So after this we let it sit for about a minute or until most of the pain has gone away to put your arm on. Then we will have to do some tests to make sure the grip is fine, its coordinating to what you want it to do, and other such things.”

Though Zenyatta didn’t wait for Jesse’s confirmation, and swiftly peeled something off of the palm sized port and swiftly put it on the stump. Shocks of white hot pain went up Jesse’s arm and he hissed and leaned against the counter, but didn’t pull his arm out of Zen’s grasp. There was a quiet click and a few ticks once that sounded Zen let go of the port. It stayed a bit tight on his arm. 

“Damn, it stings,” the comment was one the doctor had heard before. “You were right with what you said thought. More ticks sounded from the machine, barely audible, and once it quieted down the pain started to lessen. 

“Good, it won’t be painful for long, but it will take some getting use to. If your upper start to feel sore at all you can take everything off and leave it off for a while. The tissue can get all swollen and angry, so taking it off at least once a week is a good idea, but you’ll probably be doing it more frequently in the first few weeks.”

“I’ll be able to stand the nerve pain better the longer I have it then?” 

“Yes, there should be less pain because the arm won’t have to search and connect to the nerves because it should be use to it after one or two on and off cycles.”

“I think I’m ready for the actual arm, the pain is startin’ to fade now.” He twisted his arm and tried to get a few kinks that the pain had caused out. 

“You won’t feel as much pain this time around, but you will feel like the arm is heavier now that you’ve gotten use to the weight not being there. Though it is heavier than a regular arm, only a bit. It’s made of lightweight yet durable metal, but Ana couldn’t keep up with Torbjorn’s lingo so that’s what she said was the most important part.”

“I wouldn’t either, i understand lightweight and durable though.” Jesse offered his stump again and Zenyatta grabbed the arm and pressed the protruding stump on the elbow. The arm started to glow a bright blue and a few of the joints moved and the opening opened slightly, and Zenyatta carefully attached the arm. Once the knob was let go of, the arm stopped glowing and suddenly his arm felt a lot heavier. 

“Try lifting your arm or doing something with it,” Zenyatta urged with a smile on his face, but he didn’t let the arm fall in case it wasn’t attached to the port The arm slowly Jesse lifted his arm,trying to stretch it towards the roof. Much to his surprise, the arm responded and the hand opened from the fist and pointed towards the ceiling. 

“Fancy,” that was the one word that Jesse could really sum it up. He slowly lowered his arm and twisted it to admire the skull on the forearm and the faint blue glow sprinkled through the rest of the arm. The skull was the only decoration, the rest of it looked very technical. The comment got Zenyatta to chuckle. 

“If you call this fancy, then you’d be blown away by the other prosthetics that other people have.” The reply made Jesse grin as well and he shrugged. 

“I’m a simple man,” he stated and continued to admire his new arm, a pang of heavy emotion ran through his chest, mourning the organic arm that no longer was there. 

“Can you get me the supplies so we can have some drinks? A way to test if your arm’s grip needs adjusting.” Zen offered but was getting the instant coffee and tea containers. 

“If I break anythin’ I’m sorry.” Jesse replied and opened the cabinets to grab the teakettle. His fingers wrapped around the handle and he could hear the creak of the rubber, and let his grip loosen in fear he would break the handle. 

“It’s no problem, nothing you will be touching is a priceless heirloom. Everything can be replaced, i am just ceasing the time before our nights get swept up.” Zenyatta replied and went over and sat down at the counter. 

“I appreciate the time, getting two arms back is very nice after a few weeks without it. You think you’d get use to it, but the ease of use isn’t there with most things.”

“I bet dressing is one of those tasks that is a pain in the butts. In my years of doing this it is the one thing I’ve heard is the hardest with a missing arm.” The other wagered and it earned a nod from Jesse. 

“Honestly, getting a belt on is the biggest pain in the ass ever. Otherwise the rest is only a bit more time.” Putting on his belt easily took 3 times as long as any other article of clothing he owned. “You help people with Prosthetic work?” Zenyatta rarely spoke of what he did at work besides partly being a nurse when needed. 

“Yes, I was interested in prosthetics ever since I was little, and I trained in being a prosthetic specialist along with a nursing degree. It was a lot but nothing I couldn’t handle. It is easy to understand the problems with prosthetics since i have them once in a while with my own.” The mentions of prosthetics was new, but looking at Zenyatta most of his limbs looked organic. 

“You have hardware too? Yer’ pretty good at hiding th’ fact.”

“I’ve only got it recently, the installation for back supportive prosthetics is a lot more invasive, has to touch the bone. I’ve been paralyzed since I was nine due to a bad accident, but entering, essentially, a life long contract with Taku has given me the resources to walk again. The Shimada clan’s entire savings went to Hanzo and Genji, so some of that was used to help me, the contract helps keep the pains away on the worst days.” 

Zenyatta talked about this breezily, probably had a lot of time to come to terms with it. In time Jesse knew that he would get the same coping, but it doesn’t help with everything. Deadlock was one of his glaring mistakes that haunted him on the daily lately. Their looming threat to get him, and anyone around him would be the solemn victims like the day of the accident. 

“From what I hear, Taku likes pain, on those days he leeches pain from you does he seem more content? When I give Isao answers he seems a lot calmer, sating something temporarily, and days i don’t I bet he’ll get madder than a wet hen.” Jesse got back to making the tea, turning on the water with his flesh hand easily and holding the lid till the water was at the right level. 

“He is, he has a little less energy and is more content with sitting around. Those days i both love and hate when they occur, you may get a good view of it tonight.” Jesse looked over at Zenyatta, how his posture was as he sat. The kettle was set on the burner and Jesse turned it on, it took a bit to turn it because he had to push in, but he did do it once he was a bit more comfortable with the strength needed.

“Too much movin’ and groovin’ yesterday, today?” Once the kettle was put on the stove Zenyatta had Jesse’s full attention. 

“Yes, it happens once in a while. Its not too big of a deal, I have ways of dealing with it. Since my own body doesn’t heal what i can do with others. That is the downside to my curse in particular.” Zenyatta replied breezily and looked at Jesse with a soft smile. “Let's do a few more tests on your arm when Taku and Isao wake up. They can take the damage your hand can possibly do.”

Jesse laughed and shook his head, “I hope this arm is calibrated correct then, i don’t want to ruin the night.” While the water boiled he leaned against the counter and picked at the markless top with his normal hand. “How fast do they usually fall asleep?” His thumb pointed towards the wall in the direction of the brother’s bedrooms. 

“Not very long, Genji says that the weight of the day and hosting the demons consciously all day really weigh down, and once they lay down to rest it’s easy to fall asleep. It shouldn’t be much longer really, but they’re very quiet so who knows when they’ll decided to grace our presence. 

“How about now?” The familiar dual tone piped up and Jesse looked over and saw Isao standing in the kitchen doorway. 

“Perfect timin’ honey,” the comment was sweet and casual coming from Jesse’s lips. 

“Where one is, the other isn’t far behind.” Zenyatta commented softly before swivling in the barstool to face the oni. “Can you help Jesse and I see if this robotic arm is calibrated. Its just small tasks.”

“If I can get an answer or two in return.” Isao replied and tilted his chin up slightly and he looked at the mechanical arm now attached to McCree.

“I can agree that a few questions can be answered,” it wasn’t specified what questions would be answered, so it was easy to roll along with the agreement. 

“Great, the first task is simple, can you shake his hand? Then tell me if is grip is stronger than normal according to Hanzo’s standards, or normal?” Zenyatta prompted as Taku came into the room, slinging both arms around Zenyatta and watched with a smile on his face. Isao took a few steps out of the doorway and was met halfway, metal hand extended towards the demon. 

Hanzo had a firm handshake, this had been evident since they had met in the hospital, not that his was anything to sneeze at either. Growing up with two ex-military men you learned to match their handshake firmness, or suffer in silence.

The handshake was simple enough, a firm grip and a shake, two, then Isao let go, and Jesse followed suit. 

“Firmer than usual, the metal is less forgiving than flesh. Though it is about the same as last time.”

“Good, that was it really, just didn’t want Jesse to break my hand, just in case.” Zenyatta admitted and as Isao looked over at the former monk with disapproval, Jesse laughed. 

“Understandable, you probably put yer’ hands on the line all the time.” Zenyatta sagged a bit under the weight Taku must have been silently putting on him. 

“We will retest tomorrow, I suggest you keeping the arm on only for the first night so your body can get used to it being there.” 

“Makes sense to me,” the topic was easily agreed upon as both of the humans in the room got their drink ready, Jesse mixing his instant coffee and Zenyatta waiting for his tea to brew to the right strength.

“Gonna hafta’ run into town and get some of the real stuff, instant can only do so much.” It also didn’t taste as good as the real stuff either, but that was just his opinion and not actual fact. 

“We can run into town tomorrow if you want-” The offer was going to be extended, but Zenyatta was abruptly cut off. 

“At this point in time it wouldn’t be a wise idea for him to go into town, he's a wanted man and we all know Deadlock is in town wanting to capture him alive, injured they don’t seem to mind either.” Isao’s voice was sharp, his tone dipping down to a gravelly pitch, a dangerous one. Goosebumps rose on Jesse's arm and he looked over at the Oni, who was now standing straight backed by the edge of the breakfast bar. The interruption also caused him to furrow his eyebrows and look at the Oni. He decided to take a sip of the coffee before setting the mug on the counter. 

“No need to get all up ‘n arms darlin’, I was gonna say the same thing. I just just give a list, and y’all are smart enough that you can figure it out, whether it jus’ coffee filters and grounds or what may have you. There are easy solutions to keep me out of sight.” The fact though that he couldn’t hide forever was a silent omen that loomed above all of them. “Honestly don’t know why y’all took me in knowin’ this could possibly kill ya’. It would have been wiser to leave me for dead.” Jesse didn’t know what spurred him to say such a thing out loud, but now it was out there and Jesse couldn’t and wouldn’t take it back.

“The two of us took down the whole Shimada Clan, a few little American weasels aren’t anything compared to that. Its easy enough that what you can give back is worth a lot more than what it will take us to rid of the Deadlock boys after you.” Taku piped up and pulled up to the breakfast counter and sat down. A grin was on his face as he propped his head in his hands. 

“Because knowing the date of when you die is so important,” Jesse quipped sarcastically immediately, still holding the mug of coffee in his hands. 

“It is, if we know that then figure ways to keep them alive for as long as possible. Time on this earth is very limited, and there is a lot the two of us want to get done on earth as we are with these vessels, because this won’t happen again for us. The Shimada bloodline is thinned out, dying.” Isao replied, his voice sending an uncomfortable rumble through Jesse’s body. The cowboy’s gaze couldn't help but glance above the demons’ heads. The purple numbers flicked through date after date, within the same decade, but never the same date twice. 

“You’re gazing at them now, it’d be easy to just tell us now.” Taku said lazily, but with the goading tone. Just the suggestion of it had Jesse shaking his head. He looked back at what his curse had caused, the death of his family, the death of so many innocent people, and causing people to go crazy because of the knowledge of when they’ll die. They’d grow cautious or do something reckless, and effect their own date, causing an early death trying to prolong their life. 

“I can’t do it,” Jesse said stiffly and took another drink of coffee, and stood up not knowing he had started to lean on the counter. 

“Of course you can, just as easy as a few words.” Isao goaded along with his brother. He only meant to clench his hand slightly in frustration there was a sharp prick and Jesse was pulled from his thoughts as the glass was crushed in the grip of his metal hand, shards of ceramic digging into his skin.

“Son of a-” he cussed and backed away as the few remaining drops of coffee pooled on the floor with the rest, a big stain of brown running down his pants and halfway down his shirt. “I’m sorry Zen, lemme’ get that cleaned up.”

“I will get a towel,” the air was still thick with tension as Jesse bent down and started to pick the large chunks of santa that now littered the floor. A Christmas mug fatality. 

“Last time i checked Jesse McCree, you like to run that mouth, a day, month, and year wouldn’t be hard to slip from those lips of yours.” A hand gripped a handful of his hair and tilted his head so he looked away from the mess he was kneeling in on the floor. Those white eyes bore into him, as if digging into him to look for his soul. 

“October 3rd, 2078,” Jesse sneered the current date at the demon and used his new robot hand to shove into Isao’s side. “I will not be tellin’ you the date. You’ll be like the rest of who i’ve told; becoming paranoid, antsy, and will lead yourself to an early death. I am not afraid of you Isao, but I’m afraid for Hanzo was your loose willed stupidity and lack of care for your gracious host will do. Now I’d suggest we get off this topic before somethin’ real bad happens.” After saying that Jesse twisted and got out of the tight grip, using his hand to get Isao’s claws out of his scalp and to let go of his thick brown hair, and the other shoved the oni away once it was done. 

“I know for a fact that you can hurt me yourself, but you can’t kill me, it’d be a breach of the contract. Now iff’n you need me, I’m going to go change.” He didn’t wait for a response, and instead walked to the door and around both Taku and Isao, turning the corner out of the door, and up the stairs. There were obvious protests from Isao, but those seemed to get halted for now from his brother. Which was good, Jesse needed a moment to calm down.

He made his way up the stairs no problem, and into his room. He grabbed a pair of sleep pants, discarding the coffee soaked in the pile with the rest of the clothes. Dressing was swift with two arms, and as Jesse was pulling on a shirt, there was a knock on the door. He didn’t need to say come in, because the person did without him having to speak up. 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying not to let it get the best of him. “If you ain’t comin’ to apologize for tryin’ to manhandle me, I suggest askin’ another question.” 

“How many people have done what you’re afraid of once told the news?” Not a question he was expecting, nor was he expecting the calm tone of voice. 

“I didn’t tell my parents, so they died the same day as my brothers and sister. Then i thought tellin’ people would make a difference, and half of a large squad in Deadlock went insane on the news. Not that I feel sorry for the bastards. Before that though people wouldn’t believe me, so i felt the need to prove myself and told many people. One by one they all died, and it’s when i was on trial that i realized what a difference my words can make. Rarely a good impact, mostly bad, and from there the only people i have told are the ones that I think i can make a difference in helping.”

He tossed his hat onto his bed and looked at Isao, “I could ask you something similar really. Why do you feel like it’s your right to run around, yet ruin Hanzo’s life. He’d be in a different place right now if it wasn’t for you. Now, I can’t say whether its good or bad, but you could just as easily trick another person into doing your deeds that wants to. Just as easily lie dormant and watch Hanzo’s life play out to try and get a perspective on how humans think.” 

The silence was a stark contrast, and Jesse rose an eyebrow at the blank faced oni. 

“Because for every trek on earth you are trapped in hell for a thousand years. It is interesting to see how the human race has advanced in a thousand years, exploring how things work before going back into the dark. At least for me, but this doesn’t mean i won’t take no as an answer Jesse McCree. This is only just the beginning.” Isao didn’t move away ominously, but still stood there in the doorway. 

 

“Right terrifyin’ sweet pea,” the reply was lackluster and teasing. “Want to watch late night tv, I bet some idiot is trying to make sense of people or politics this time of night.”

“You change the subject a lot,” Isao said, amused. 

“And you’re too curious,” the retort was quick as Jesse walked back down the stairs. “What was with the sudden change of heart? Realize that your tricks that work on others won’t me?”

“You’re quite a curious human being, with a curse that is something that every demon seeks to find.”

“Oh great, do i have to look forward to other demons trying to rip my hair out too?” He asked as they made it into the living room. Zenyatta and Taku already on the couch watching a horror movie. 

“Friday the 13th, god I’ve seen that too many times.” Jesse muttered, one of Olivia’s favorites and he could never figure out what any of his family had for such corny stories. Maybe because he was desensitized to that type of stuff, but either way he found it boring. 

“Either this or Saw one, and gore isn’t a particular favorite of mine.” Zenyatta replied and Jesse nodded, “better choice, still corny, but better. He sat down on the other side of the couch. Horror movies reminded him of something though. 

“Should we have a Q&A session, i’m curious on a few things myself, and I thought you may have some answers.”

“What about?” Isao inquired. 

“The Shimada clan and their father’s journals.”

“For every one of your questions i can ask two.”

“Forget it then, no way in hell i’d agree to that,” Jesse shook his head, “stubborn.”

“I will figure out what makes you tick eventually McCree,” Isao commented as Jesse counted backward from three in his head as he looked at the screen. After getting to zero a jumpscare happened, and Zenyatta jolted slightly, obviously caught off guard. 

"It'll take a while to figure that out, I've been told he has quite a stubborn streak, and you aren't able to break him down as quickly as you have others." Jesse didn't have to speak up, the former monk did it for him instead, though no smile was on his face as he looked over at the two of them. "You're going to have to be tactful in a different way Isao, and take into consideration that his past isn't quite as scar free as mine is. You can step on a few landmines and it will be harder to get the answers you want from him if you step on them."

The New Mexico native looked over to Taku, whose eyes were glued to the screen, and Zenyatta, who looked away almost gratefully. "Jack says that everyone has parts of their past that is hard to talk about, and my curse is just the starting vein of mine. Its a habit i need to break out of, but it will be a slow process." It was a bit painful to admit that, but it was admitted with forced nonchalance. This didn't go as unnoticed as Jesse hoped it would. 

"Usually i'm not the one with tact, it looks like the tables have turned." Taku joked cheekily and leaned back into the couch and rested his feet on the coffee table. 

"My Abuela would beat you over the head for doin' that, my brother made that mistake. Take your feet off the coffee table." Jesse said and sat forward, shoving the bare feet off, and it didn't take much effort for them to slide off and hit the rug. Taku rose an eyebrow at him but ended up dropping the look and grinned. 

"Seems like a person stuck in the old traditional ways." He commented and slowly Jesse rested back into the couch. 

 

"Oh, you bet, the cuisine, the traditions, the whole nine yards. My mother wasn't quite the same way, a bit more relaxed with everything, but days with my Abuela were very enlightening and traditional."

"Is it much different with Gabriel and Jack then? If you don't mind me asking."

"Gabe and my sister have a bit of Spanish background, so we enjoys holidays very loosely, but Jack's ways of celebrating can be a bit different than i am use to, at least at first, but he puts up with our traditions, so its only nice to do the same." Jack got shit for some things, but Jesse wouldn't comment about that, instead he glanced back at the television when car lights came on the screen, bright compared to the gloomy setting of the movie. 

"I bet Deadlock didn't practice much of holidays, more worried about day to day." Isao guessed, and he got a nod of agreement. 

"Of course, the only day people would celebrate was The Day of The Dead, and that was if someone in their family they were close to, ancestors, or a friend had died. Overall though, not many other days were celebrated, so you're definitely right on that." There was a soft pause, the conversation on screen only background noise. "Will i be sucked into your holidays as well, be the odd one out?"

"Absolutely," Taku pipped up and tore his eyes from the screen. "You're going to learn some traditions from Japan and Nepal."

"Always open for a new experience, but I probably won’t catch all the customs at first.” Jesse commented with a smile. 

“No one is ever expected to be perfect first try.” Isao scoffed and Jesse rolled his eyes. 

“Is the conversation going to be like this all night?” Jesse asked and looked over at Zenyatta, who flinched at another jumpscare. 

“Typically, yes, brace yourself they snark back.” 

“That’s no different than Hanzo,” Jesse huffed. 

“You seem pretty use to it if that’s your reaction,” Taku commented and glanced over at Jesse before at the movie. 

“Sass isn’t an’ uncommon phenomenon growin’ up with my sister.”

The night when a lot like that, giving Isao information, but in a more casual way. They surfed the television for halloween or horror movies as conversation floated easily between the four of them. It was polarizing trying to get use to Isao’s personality when he looked a whole lot like Hanzo, just with grey skin, white eyes, horns, and markings. Like a well created halloween costume. It was a lot different than the one evening at the hospital, and the night before. Jesse knows he got lucky that Isao let Hanzo get some real sleep. Though putting his foot down seemed to be working, but he knew it wouldn’t fend off the demon for very long. 

After the inevitable boredom, Jesse decided that another trip to the lake was best for the both of them, and let Taku and Zenyatta have the house for the evening.

It wasn’t till 6 am when the sun was rising when Jesse got to bed, a kiss goodnight like the previous evening from Isao that left the cowboy just as confused as last time. . If he did plan on going into town, it would be ruined now, being too tired to think of anything but sleep. Jesse put the hat over on the unpacked boxes and his head hit the blanket he was temporarily using as a pillow, hopefully the others went into town and got the things he wrote down that he needed. His eyelids grew heavy, and he swiftly fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

The morning came with some nice smells coming from the kitchen, and a pillow still in a plastic bag hitting his back. His eyes cracked open and he turned his head to glance back at the other side of the bed. Hanzo stood there, a long cardboard box under his arm and nothing in the hand that the pillow once was in. 

“G’ Mornin’ sweet pea,” he said and grinned slightly, pulling the pillow from his back. “Just what i needed, g’ night.” he shoved the plastic covered pillow under his head and closed his eyes again. 

There was a small huff from Hanzo as the blankets were peeled from the cocoon it made around the cowboy. “Help me make your bedside table, you can’t use those boxes forever.” Jesse cracked an eye open and looked at the two boxes stacked on top of each other upside down and saw that his hat was missing. He sat up and looked around the boxes before back up at Hanzo, and saw the stolen hat on top of his head. 

“Sure I can, just a matter of not destroyin’ them.” Even with the argument Jesse grabbed the pillow from the bag, and the pillowcase that was inside the bag as well. He drowsily made the pillow, trying to wake up enough to use a screwdriver and possibly hammer. 

“You really aren’t a morning person, are you?” Hanzo asked and started to open the package, sitting on the floor to pull out the pieces of wood and small plastic packages of screws. Once the grey pillow case was on the pillow, he got up and only moved a foot before flopping down on the floor beside Hanzo. 

“Why’d you get me this?” He inquired and picked up the directions and reading them over. 

“Because this room is furnished and we don’t have much spare furniture. You have so many small things that at least a bit of storage and a place to put a clock and your abominable hat is the best option.” The comment on his hat got Jesse’s attention and he looked over as Hanzo still wore it. 

“Then take it off,” he replied and reached over to pluck the hat from Hanzo’s head, and did so with no protest from the eldest Shimada. 

“Your father also stopped by, dropped off a few things he said he had kept in storage for you. Not even he could wake you up for longer than 15 seconds before you were flipped over and sleeping again.” Hanzo commented with a smile on his face as he took a side of the directions and tilted them so he could read them. 

“Some days I sleep like the dead, but other nights I can hardly sleep at all. Nightmare fueled insomnia but i hope that the late night arrangement will have some benefits to it.” 

“I don’t know how you can stand it honestly. Its probably annoying answering questions all the time. Not to mention getting dragged into all of this, and uprooted from where you were.” Hanzo commented and grabbed the screwdriver, Jesse held the board steady, letting the ebony haired male work. 

“I would be more mad and upset if it wasn’t for all the talkin’ we did while I was in the hospital.” If it would have been a scenario where he was a stranger with strangers it would have been more of a shocking change. “We got to know each other and I got to know your brother through you and what we talked about as well. Zen was a regular so its the same with ‘im. If you wouldn’t a’ talked to me I would have been a lot more reluctant. We talked for weeks so it isn’t like we don’t know each other, but we don’t know everything.” He handed Hanzo a second screw, it was taken gladly, their eyes meeting for a moment before Hanzo looked back down, focused on the task at hand. “This between stage is a real good jumpin’ off point.”

Once the one side was secure, Jesse leaned over and grabbed part C, and held it how it was suppose to go, the bag of screws and pegs between them. 

“We both have our own secrets, burdens, but you seem like a well rounded person.” Hanzo affirmed confidently, but not in the way he’d usually say so, his tone was softer. “If you’re correct on your assumptions, then we can help each other.”

“We can help each other in a lot of ways,” Jesse commented and looked from where the joint between the two wood pieces were, to Hanzo. For a minute or two, neither of them said anything, silence between them as Hanzo picked up the last side of the box and screwed the base together. 

“How so?” Hanzo asked and looked over at Jesse, setting the screwdriver aside in favor of the directions. 

“Anything that is burdenin’ us that we don’t want to admit ta’ Genji or Zenyatta I feel that we can safely confide in each other. If we would do somethin’ more besides tease each other we would have done it already, so I know you’re a good person.” Jesse started and looked over at Hanzo and scooted closer. And nudged him. “Though i feel like i’m leading a horse to water that doesn’t want to drink with the nice comment. Ya’ never seem to believe me.”

“Because there is a part of me that isn’t nice,” Hanzo insisted and went to pick up another piece of the furniture to assemble, but Jesse reached out and stopped him with a gentle hand. 

“Ya’ can’t call Isao part of ya’, he’s just your...inhabitant, and even if you aren’t talking about him all of us have done shit we regret but the both of us are trying to do better things with our lives.” Jesse replied and nudged Hanzo’s shoulder. 

“Besides no mean person would get me a bedside table because my current one is two boxes. They’d just leave me be with what i had, and its been done with me before.” It wasn’t an easy thing to admit though, and Hanzo’s eyebrows drew together. 

“Who did that?” Hanzo picked up the piece of furniture, this time Jesse helped him assemble the rest of the dresser. 

“I did it ta’ myself.” Jesse replied with a sigh. “When Gabe and Jack took me in I didn’t accept anything of theirs, slept on the floor when there was a bed, kept my clothes till they took them away and forced me to wear new ones, all because i felt so bad that it was Deadlock that took Jack’s sight. It wasn’t till they sat me down and had a talk that really hit home that i finally started to accept what they gifted ta’ me. I still didn’t feel worth though.”

“The opposite than what happened with me.” Hanzo commented and looked over at Jesse. “Nor do you have to try so hard, mushy doesn’t suit you Cowboy.” It was an obvious tease, but with the bed side table half built Jesse weighed the options and leaned a bit closer to Jesse. 

“What can i admit, Imm’a sap.” He replied and used his flesh hand to turn Hanzo’s attention away from the construction and kissed him on the lips. A short, warm peck and this kiss felt different than the others he had shared with Isao. The kiss was warm, gentle, and there was something raw in it that he couldn’t quite convey. The kiss was short, and he pulled away with a smile, “ ‘specially soft fer’ people i’m close to or admire.” He replied and brought his hand back to the table. “That is one payback for Isao givin’ me a kiss goodnight.”

Red creeped up to Hanzo’s cheeks and his shoulders tensed in defense. “That oni can’t keep anything to himself.” He muttered and went back to assembling the furniture with renewed furvor.

“And if i may ask, what do ya’ mean from that?” The question was cheeky, and earned a glare from Hanzo. 

“That is none of your business, seeing as that oni cannot keep my business to whom I want to know.” Hanzo got defensive, the light-heartedness from earlier faded as quickly as it had come. 

“Aw, don’t get like that,” They started screwing in the drawer tracks into the inside of the box. “The day isn’t time for you to worry about that party pooper, its time for you to enjoy yourself. What happens at night is inevitable, but you shouldn’t let it ruin your day as well.”

“You aren’t the first to say this to me, and I know you won’t be the last.” Hanzo huffs and makes quick work of the tracks, the table getting flipped over so the other one can be screwed in. “Its a work in progress, but yesterday was one of the better days, I can admit that much.” 

It caught Jesse off guard that Hanzo did admit that yesterday was a good day. A smile came to his face as he stood the table up and they slid the drawer in. “I’m glad ta’ hear that, hopefully today will be just as good then.” Jesse moved over to the boxes and plastic all over the floor, and started to pick everything up. 

“That is the hope,” Hanzo tapped his side and took the box from his grip. “I will go throw this away, take a shower. Genji’s turn to make lunch, so it will probably be done soon.” Their eyes met for a brief second before Hanzo went to picking up the stuff off the floor. 

“Aye aye captain,” Jesse teased and walked over to the dresser, grabbing fresh clothes from the drawers with little regard to what he grabbed in particular. He turned around and stopped short of taking a step when Hanzo was right there behind him. His heart leapt into his throat at the sudden appearance. “So ya’ weren’t pullin’ my leg when ya’ said you and yer’ brother were bonafide ninjas were ya?”

“Nope,”Hanzo didn’t move and leaned the box against his bed. He grabbed the collar of McCree’s shirt and pulled him forward, till their faces were inches away. “Kissing is suppose to be a mutual want.” That comment had Jesse’s face fall to concern and silence floated between them. “I’m sorry if I overstepped the boundaries, I won’t do-,” what caught Jesse more off guard, was the surge forward, and their lips met again. The kiss was just like the last, warm, inviting, and all too short. Hanzo pulled away but didn’t remove his hand from Jesse’s shirt and he smirked slightly, something the cowboy found very sexy. 

“Invite me to dinner first, a kiss before the date isn’t the usual order of things.” After saying his part, Hanzo released Jesse and picked up the box. Jesse was left speechless as Hanzo left the room with no further comment on the subject. 

Shaking himself from the surprised state, Jesse walked out of the room as well, Hanzo nowhere in sight as he did. It didn’t bother him, a small smile came to his face at the thought of what Hanzo had said. Maybe there was a spark between them after all. Those thoughts brewed in his mind as he took the shower, taking his time on taking of the prosthetic and setting it on the part of the counter closest to the door. His shoulder and what remained of his arm were sore, but Zen had reminded him that it was something normal. Jesse took his time in the shower, letting the warm sprays wake him up and wash away some of the soreness in his arm. 

Jesse emerged from the shower twenty minutes later, dressed, his prosthetic on, and hair damp as well as an uncombed mess. In this state, he headed down the stairs and towards the kitchen which was the source of many enticing smells. He walked through the doorway and saw the other three milling around, talking as Genji manned the stove and several ingredients scattered around as he stirred something in a pot. 

“What is that on your head?” Zenyatta asked with a small laugh as he swiveled in the bar stool to look at Jesse. 

“That isn’t a way to greet someone who just woke up sass master Zenyatta.” The reply had no heat in the words and Zenyatta gave just a small innocent smile. 

“Is your hair really that wavy?” Genji asked as he looked away from his pots and pans that were on the stove. 

“Uncombed, yes, my hair has always been tameless. At this point in life all I can really do is comb it and leave it be.”

“Is that why you wear that atrocious hat?” Hanzo asked, a small smile on his face as he sat on the other side of Zenyatta. The question had Jesse raising his eyebrows as he leaned against the frame of the doorway. 

“No, I jus’ have a soft spot for the hat that is older than I am. Family heirloom if you want to say that sorta thing.” He replied and pointed a thumb towards the bed room, “but i ain’t the one who put it on your head this mornin’ darlin.” 

“It is the softest hat I’ve ever worn,” Hanzo made a flimsy excuse, but Jesse wouldn’t call him out on it, instead he just smiled. 

“You never look good in hats, it emphasizes your large forehead.” Genji replied but didn’t look up from what he was cooking, instead he focused on taking things off of the burners and putting them into set out containers. 

“It seems to be a family trait,” Zenyatta piped in again. 

This easy flowing conversation and teasing reminded Jesse a lot of home. The conversation was so natural, and it was the sort of thing where he fit right into the conversation even now. He’d only know them a short amount of time, yet they put so much effort in letting him feel welcome. They didn’t judge him for what his curse was, and didn’t try to weasel information out of him, just some of his past. 

The conversation floated like even through lunch, the topics jumping and plenty of jokes, sass, and stories were passed around the table. The hat in question being brought down after Jesse combed his rat’s nest of hair to something more acceptable. For a moment the whole looming problem of Deadlock coming was forgotten as well as the evening that was fast approaching. 

“God is all that is on halloween movies and the news?” Zenyatta openly complained as they scrolled through the limited channels. Jesse leaned against the back of the couch. 

“You said my pa bought somethin’ over, what did he bring over?” Jesse asked and looked at where Genji and Hanzo were perched, arguing over something in Japanese. 

“One of them was a guitar case, but the rest of it was in a small box. Your father’s a real nice man, and so is your other one.” Zenyatta replied and set the remote on the arm of the chair. 

“They are nice people, look a lot meaner than they actually are. I can’t believe that they kept my dumpy ol’ guitar.” He stood up from where he was leaning on the couch and looked towards the stairs. “I’ll be back down in a jiffy,” He commented and headed up the stairs with a bit of pep in his step. It had been so long since he picked up a guitar, so if they had kept his guitar it would be a surprise. It was in rough condition when they got it for him, and use has definitely worn it down even more. At some point he had saved up for a new one, but didn’t quite get as far as to actually get one. 

Back in his room, he took a quick sweeping gaze and saw the familiar worn down dark black hard case. A smile came to his face as he went over to the small box and guitar case and picked up the larger of the two. He planted the case carefully on the bed and took a moment to look at the various things he had written or stuck onto the case: songs to remember, singers to look up, bands that he admired. He couldn’t help but snort as he opened the case and saw the familiar pale wood and worn wood, the furnish coming off of parts where his hand rubbed against the most. 

“I can’t believe it,” he picked up the guitar and a few pieces of paper fell out of the case with the guitar, one yellowed, and the other crisp, new. Jesse set the guitar aside on the bed and picked up a note, a familiar font scrawled across the paper in purple ink. 

Deadlock is in town, and they’re looking for a fight. They have some tech hired help, and I’d give you only a day or two before they know where you are. 

I hate having to send messages via paper, its old school. 

S.

The note left a sour taste in his in his mouth and he shook his head, folding the paper up and shoving it into his pocket. His phone buzzed on his bedside table and he looked over at it. He walked over and picked it up, from a disposable phone, he knew who this was. He opened the message and it was a countdown, just under two days Closing the message he looked at the time, mid afternoon. A mid day attack was not a lot like Deadlock,they preferred night raids, but his stomach knotted at the thought of the attack so soon. It was so little time, his wounds had just healed for the most part. 

 

He had plenty of people on his side, so it wasn’t like he was facing this all on his own. They also had to come on this land to get to him, so they could prepare, spring traps. He would have to discuss this with the others later. He looked back at his guitar with a heart heavy at the sudden burden of Deadlock reemerging. 

He picked up the guitar and ran his flesh hand down the familiar grain of the wood and smiled slightly at the memories embedded in this old guitar. Some of the spare strings sat at the bottom of the case and he took the one string he saw that needed to be replaced and headed downstairs back to where the rest of them were in the living room. Coming out of his room and headed down the stairs, he heard some conversation flowing around, the few words he could hear, it was definitely english. 

“Done arguin’? Must have been resolved.” Jesse spoke up and walked around the couch and settled into the empty two seater chair. 

“So it was the guitar, are you going to play something for us?” Genji asked with a grin, obviously teasing. 

“Possibly, I’m awful rusty, its been ten or so years since i played. When i did play though, i played a lot so maybe that will be my saving grace.” He replied and ran a thumb over the strings gently, of course the guitar was out of tune. It was easy enough to tune up. 

“If you did it long enough you should still have a bit of that knowledge still stored in your mind somewhere.” He smiled and looked over at the other couch. 

“I can hope so, otherwise i’m pretty screwed,” he laughed and went back to tuning his guitar. It was a careful yet familiar thing that seemed to comfort him. 

“Block the demons, I have some info.” It was best to talk about it now than later and suppress information on a tight crunch. 

He looked down at the guitar and continued to tune it, not looking at Genji or Hanzo. 

“It’s done, they’re not going to be happy with you you know, keeping information from them.” Genji commented and shifted to face him. 

“Planting a bomb really, what information did you find out.” Hanzo cut to the chase, Zenyatta turned down the television volume. 

“Got a letter with my guitar case from a solid information source, we have two days till their hired help tracks where this is, where I am.” He produced the letter from his pocket and leaned over and handed it to Hanzo, the person within reach. He saw the wrinkle between the archer’s eyebrows, and the note was passed down the couch. 

“S? Who is that, and how do they know what Deadlock is up to?”

“A person who can’t help us but what she can do in personal time. We have a give and take relationship to help each other, but i don’t know if you’ve heard of this person’s name floating around, Sombra.” Jesse offered with a small gesture with his flesh hand. 

“I’ve heard of her, one of the best in the business, but if she can’t interfere than it must be against something with her job.” Genji commented and side eyed Jesse. “Though she doesn’t give out information easily. 

“Nor do I, so you understand how much I trust y’all when I give out this information.” He replied casually, but there was no hiding the sterner undertone. “If they can pluck way at finding my location when she’s way and multiple of them, that is why we have such a short deadline. Though two days is being generous, I’d guess with help and depending on the grade of help that has Sombra worried, I’d give us a half day less.”

“Damn,” Hanzo sighed and rubbed his forehead. “That means we have to start taking action right away then doesn’t it?”

“With four of us it should be done quick, I know some of their tactics, no doubt they’ve changed a bit, but the base of the plan should be the same. That won’t change till Mama Deadlock dies, and since I can remember it clear as day, she dies in nine days, and if she dies her son takes over. Lets hope he is on this trip because if he takes over it will be a new era of hell, and I want that bastard dead.”

“Dang, McCree is serious, this must be something important.” Genji tried to lighten the mood, but he just got himself a punch to the arm. He threw a wilted glare at Zenyatta and rubbed his arm. 

“I’d say it’s important,” he replied, turning his attention back to tuning his guitar. “If I get rid of that asshole i get them off my back for good, no one can link me to Deadlock if they’re dead, only past, now void documents, and Deadlock themselves. With the leaders dead they will scramble into smaller groups, and die out within a decade, and within that time I will quickly be forgotten in favor of their own survival.” He tilted his head and looked over at Genji, “In turn I will keep your guy’s life a bit less dangerous.”

“Makes sense, nothing that cannot be taken care of. Considering we have a few days to prepare. I just hope that in the meantime no fights break out. In two days you all can argue all you want.” Zenyatta replied and set the letter aside. “At least we have a timeline, and i think between us all we have the brains to figure out some traps, maybe hook up some cameras or some sort of warning device. 

“As if the Oni’s wouldn’t recognize strangers on their territory,” Hanzo and Genji said at the same time, and there was a thick silence as they looked at each other for a moment slightly confused but also amused. 

“Since Hanzo is pretty good with a bow, maybe make him a hidden perch in a tree with some leaves still left on it.” Jesse commented and gestured towards the driveway, the one entrance to the house. “That narrow driveway is a great place to spring some traps, at very least a crude warning. They attack 

“Things like spikes so they can’t drive off, things to hide behind, spots to catch them off guard.” Genji listed off, bare bone ideas. 

“What we’d need to do is have a warning signal, so then one person in the house can call the authorities, since we aren’t technically supposed to be dealing with this sort of thing, and fend them off till the fire cursed bastard is dead or the police and fire crew get here.” 

“That’s still a long time regardless, these roads are tight and winding in some spots.” Zenyatta pointed out and Jesse hummed as the last string got turned on his guitar. 

“Tell them to take the smaller more agile cars but don’t slack on the manpower.” Jesse offered and set his guitar so it was propped against the chair. 

“Isao’s breaking through the block, we will have to talk more later.” Hanzo did seem pretty quite the whole conversation. Immediately at the revelation the conversation ended and Jesse ended up picking up his guitar again and started to practice a few chords. He carefully placed his metal fingers on the chords trying to remember what finger holds were which cords. 

“He’s not happy,” Hanzo muttered and looked at the television, “he’s trying to probe for information.” 

“I’ll tell him in my own time, the conversation between us and them are two different thing entirely. Its as if 6 people are involved and 2 are very ornery, like a bunch of crotchety old men.” He glanced over at Hanzo and he seemed to nod in agreement, but his eyebrows still pinched together in obvious frustration. The comment though earned him a few chuckles from Genji and Zenyatta. 

“You learn quick, maybe your perspective will teach him some patience this one. Zenyatta has Taku pretty tamed.” Hanzo replied with a sigh as he brushed his bangs out of his face. 

Jesse found a few notes, and slowly started to play Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi. His playing of the guitar was just a beat or two slower than the real guitarist in the beginning. 

“After all of this is done, a bonfire would be nice, before the snow comes and ruins our lives for a few months.” Jesse commented and continued to play the beginning of the song over again till he got more comfortable with it. 

“That’s a good idea, swap stories, enjoy each other’s company, and Jesse’s music.” Zenyatta perked up at the thought and smiled. The monk always seemed to be able to lift some of the heaviest of moods with the slightest of prompts. “Try some of the things i hear are staples of a good campfire, haven’t had the chance to.” 

“You haven’t had a s’more?” Jesse asked, his eyes widened as he looked up from the guitar. 

“Nope, maybe once when i was very young, but I can’t remember it, so I don’t count it.” 

“Its all for the memories, its like how I know i went to the festival in Hanamura when i was one, but the festival doesn’t exist in my memory. They most memorable moment is when Genji fell into a pond while flirting with a girl our age in a nice kimono.” Hanzo spoke fondly and the wrinkles in his forehead were banished for a moment. 

Genji had a retort but Jesse didn’t need to look up to listen to their bantering, swapping of embarrassing stories even if they were only small snippets. 

The third time he started the intro, it was to the regular pace, and he was obviously more comfortable with how his new hand conformed to the guitar and to a pressure that wouldn’t snap or cut the strings. 

“It’s all the same, only the name will change. Everyday, it seems we’re wastin’ away. We know a place, where the faces are so cold. I travel all night, just to get back home.” Jesse started with the slow lilt as the singer in the song, Jesse’s eyebrows creased in concentration as he played the simple guitar to go along with the vocals. His toe tapping along with the slow but steady beat. 

“I’m a cowboy, on a steel horse i ride. I’m wanted, dead or alive. Wanted, dead or alive.” He sang and couldn’t help but smirk at the chorus as he went back into silence, playing the interlude. His rich voice in the higher parts of his range to stay around the same notes as the original, but still held a richness to it. 

“Not bad at all, see you picked it right up. True bonafide cowboy if you can do that, bonus points for singing too.” Genji proclaimed with a smirk and got up from the couch. “And you remember all of that?”

“I do, played it so much almost a decade ago that it seems so hard to forget.” Singing was a staple for Jesse when he was younger, a way to let the stresses of the day melt away to nothing but the soothing strumming of the guitar strings, and focus on getting a song just how he wanted it to sound. 

“I would much rather listen to music than horror movies any day, but the again i don’t much care for horror movies.” Zenyatta admitted and Jesse smiled. 

“Well maybe when I am a bit more practiced, I can play some tunes during the bonfire.” Jesse offered, setting the guitar aside after inspecting the strings. “May need a glove for this metal hand though, its pretty rough on the strings, and these aren’t easy to replace.” Cheap enough, but a pain in the ass to replace and retune. 

“Your good enough already,” Genji scoffed and waved a dismissive hand at Jesse. “What other songs do you know? Any picked out for friends or family you can play?” The rapid fire questions caused Jesse to smile and lean back into the chair. 

“Maybe a few,” He hummed and plucked at his strings in contemplative thought. The suddenly he picked up to a sudden and louder tune than the rest of the strumming had been till then. The notes climbed and fell back down, it did this twice before Jesse started to sing. 

“Out in the street, its six a.m, another sleepless night.” He looked over at the brothers before back down at the guitar, his foot tapping with the beat. “Three cups of coffee but I can’t clear my head from what went down last night. No we both have our own little ways but somehow we keep it together.” Genji was smirking, obviously impressed but also trying to hold back laughter. Hanzo simply rolled his eyes, but had a soft expression as he listened. “You hear my talkin’ but you don’t hear what I say, I guess it don’t even matter.” There was a space for him to catch his breath. “Blue morning, blue day, won’t you see things my way. Blue morning, can’t you see what your love has done to me.” That is as far as Jesse went and he took his fingers away from the strings. 

“Blue morning, blue day by Foreigner, they seem to have a bit of a grasp.” Zenyatta replied and hummed.

“So what you planning on making for dinner then, its your turn due to the rotation.” Hanzo changed the subject, standing up himself but he wanted towards the bathroom. Probably to get medication for the headache that Isao is no doubt causing. 

“I dunno yet, still have a few hours to figure that out though, maybe a chili if I start on it now and put it in a slow cooker, everything should be nice and cooked by dinner time.” Jesse pondered out loud and leaned over to look at the time on the tv’s VCR. “Though if i wanted to do that i best get on it.”

“You should have a second plan in case we don’t have what you need.” Hanzo commented and their eyes met as Jesse got up from the chair. 

“That’s the great thing about a thing like chili, its awful versatile. Can use many spice, meats, and other various things, I’m confident i can make somethin’ from what ya’ have.” Whether they liked the level of spice he had in his food, was a different question. “First thing’s first, i need a smoke.” At this point he could go without smoking, its been a few weeks and the nicotine withdrawal was long gone, but it was too much of a habit for him to crush. 

“You haven’t smoked till now, why continue?” Hanzo asked, a critical tone in his voice. Jesse rose his eyebrows and placed a hand on the railing. 

“Because I’m stressed, I feel guilty because I’m draggin’ some good people into my shitty mess, and the timin’ is screwed up because i was laid up for so long.” He replied and rubbed the back of his neck with his metal hand, the cool metal sending goosebumps down his arms as he made it up the stairs to grab a cigar and his lighter as well as the notebooks from one Sojiro Shimada. Wordlessly he headed down the stairs and out the door, he rounded to the back of he house and found a bench out there for sitting as well as a fire pit. Grass was starting to creep up on the outlining rocks, so it obviously hadn’t been used in a long time. That wasn’t his concern at the moment. Guilt ate up Jesse as he pulled the wood bench closer and lit up his cigar. 

 

He jiggled his leg nervously and chewed a bit at the end before he went through the familiar motions of lighting the cigar. The familiar heavy burden in the pit of his stomach sank, and the whole gravity of the situation hit him all at once. If any of them died he couldn’t rightly forgive himself, and any little action can impact someone’s death date at any point. Even seconds from an action, decades of years can melt off into a few minute timer, it’s happened before. The demons also blocked Jesse from being able to see the brothers’ true death dates, so he wouldn’t be able to tell if they were dying or not from what he has experienced so far with Gabriel. 

He inhaled, the taste of the tobacco coming out, taking the smallest bit of edge off before exhaled. A sigh followed the smoke and he rubbed his forehead. He know he’s grown soft, trying to help others by explaining his own past in hopes it gives some insight on how they could possibly solve their own problems. His eyes traveled over to the two notebooks stacked on the bench seat beside him. 

Maybe they’re trying to do the same, but have trouble trusting strangers. His mind supplied as he swapped the cigar to his right hand, and he picked up one of the flimsy translated journals. His previous ways of trying to help people didn’t work, it always came off as crass and with little attachment to the solution he would give. That’s how it went through the best around the hard headed Deadlock assholes, heart to heart got you lower on the totem pole. 

That’s not the case anymore, and he needed to remind himself that. Most of the habits in Deadlock he learned weren’t habits to help him in society, just to survive in a world of smuggling and gangs. He reached over and picked up the top notebook, resting it in his lap and opening to the first page. Deadlock would soon be out of his hair, nothing more to worry about, but figuring out what made the oni’s tick was a totally different story. He skimmed over the first page, talks about a particularly successful gun trade, and the falling out between him and Genji. Surprisingly, Sojiro put that he knew nothing good would come from it with the demons. 

“I felt that way, back on the street.” A familiar voice spoke up, and Jesse didn’t look back, he knew it was Hanzo. He brought the other notebook closer to his side and set the first one on top of it, half open. He took a drag of the cigar, letting it linger as he finally looked over when another weight settled on the bench. “I didn’t know you, yet the oni was making a deal and I didn’t have the slightest clue on why. A total stranger who saved my life.” The tone was soft, sincere. Jesse leaned forward to flick some of the ashes into the fire pit, but didn’t remove his bum from the seat. 

“And then we talked, hesitant at first but eventually as if it was nothing. Our pasts have similar experiences, so conversation was a breeze. Though the true heavy feelings didn’t come to the surface until it all exploded on us, and it seems that unlike the usual, the world is right on our heels with the suddenness of everything.” The cigar was plucked from between his fingers, catching the cowboy off guard. Hanzo was leaned over and put the cigar to his lips, inhaling before handing it back.

“Coulda just asked,” the first words out of his mouth since Hanzo had come out, and compared to what Hanzo was saying, it sounded like garbage. Hanzo went back to sitting normally and looked at Jesse out of the corner of his eye, smiling before blowing a few rings from the smoke. 

“I stopped being a regular smoker ages ago, now its just a treat once in a while.”

“Well I’m an addict, I’ll admit that now, maybe not for too much longer, but till someone’s on my tail I need a way to relieve some frustration while not breaking anything or yellin’.” He admitted simply and pressed the cigar to his lips and inhaled. Once the smoke left his mouth he spoke up again,

“I think you deserve a story, for all the ones you’ve told me just trying to get me to trust you and feel comfortable around you.” Hanzo started and picked up the journals and set them in his lap. 

“Those stories helped me as much as they do you, I need to make talking about them a normal thing, and I feel like our trauma is close enough for me to open up. Its weird.”

“Then let this soothe your mind,” Hanzo replied softly and nudged Jesse with his shoulder, a signal for him to shut up. “The days when we were learning how to control the onis, we didn’t have enough control. During the night when we fell asleep they held no qualms or worries for our bodies, and would do as they pleased. Sometimes days when they felt particularly cheeky, but those were rare and quickly thwarted by my father. On one night in particular everything seemed to change. I can remember the night because i had just learned how to peer into what Isao saw. The first thing I saw was my brother’s form, in my arms as Isao rushed back to the house.” Hanzo’s lips curled slightly, his fingers deftly playing with the pages of the journals. 

“Taku more often than not went out searching the limits of a human body, and what training can do to improve it or destroy it. Isao did this once but at the cost of my legs, and he didn’t do it ever again because i blocked him from getting out for as long as i could, but Taku…” Hanzo trailed off for a moment with a heavy sigh. “He ended up picking a fight with a rogue branch of the Shimada clan, one that had been rebelling, and he got jumped. Genji was in the in between form, it was his body, yet his skin was the grey, and the marks were there. Why that was is because he was in a coma and had several surgeries done to try and fix what they could of his mangled body. A leg became a prosthetic as well as one of his arms, and at the time this was devastating so it was start of the art stuff. Can’t tell the difference, but its the arm with the dragon on it, the dragon hides all the mechanical work with ease.”

I was real angry when my legs were gone, a rogue Shimada household taken care of by Isao because of a feud he had with another oni that was on earth. Isao won and got us home by some miracle, but from there on I had to have stricter control. About two months after my accident I remember being let in by Isao, carrying my brother’s limp, broken body. I was furious, he was barely alive, missing his right arm, same leg, and was paralyzed.” Hanzo sighed, one that was obviously to relieve some of the pressure of such a heavy story. “From there on till Zenyatta joined us it was Isao’s job, my job, to keep Taku in line and stop him from doing such a thing ever again.” 

His fingers jabbed lightly into the paper, “I had to do the same with Isao if we were to handle Taku; from then on I knew that they truly would kill for their own amusement, even their hosts as much as they claim they care. So I knew from then on that if an agreement wasn’t met that there would be more of this pain, near death, flimsy reasoning. So when Genji went into a coma, Isao and I made a deal. The evenings were his to do as he pleased, but he could not interrupt my days without good reasoning otherwise i gain a 3 nights to myself. I didn’t worry too much with him about my physical state, but made sure he kept that in mind as we made the deal that some things were better done in a pair or a few groups. He commented as if i was talking to him as if he was a child, in which i retorted with a quit acting like one then, and we agreed easily upon the arrangement. Isao isn’t beyond hurting someone to get his way, and I’m leery on when it will happen and its part of the reason why i hate bringing people into our little circle of pain.”

“Because its a circle of pain, and I bet there have been a few people you’ve tried to bring in that haven’t been able to hold their ground against Taku or Isao. I bet it’s easy to tell when something won’t work out.”

“Those contracts are finished with ease,” Hanzo agreed. “The first night or two if they get pushed around then we know it’s no good. We need someone just as strong willed and stubborn as them to tolerate it, let along get along.”

“What a bunch we are, three psychos are the poor monk that has to keep us in line.” Jesse joked and snubbed out the cigar against one of the stones, but carefully enough to save the rest for some other time. “Thank you for the story, it explains a few things. I understand now why you wouldn’t let anyone in if you’ve done this more than your fair share of times.” Jesse stood up and stretched, the cigar placed with care in his breast pocket. “We’re off to a good start if i do say so myself, those few weeks in the hospital helped.” He stated with a grin and started walking back inside with Hanzo, the notebooks in the other’s hand. 

“It helped ease you into it, and getting to know you without the stigma of “oh you’re part demon too,” or “oh, you were once mafia”?” Hanzo mocked and Jesse grinned. 

“Bird’s of a feather darlin’, I feel that we’re good pals, somethin’ just clicks,” he paused and scratched his beard to mock him thinking. “Probably the horrible pasts.”

“Indeed it probably is the horrors of growing up, but every may say that some part of their life was a horror growing up.” The two of them scoffed at the same time, and Jesse chuckled, Hanzo grinning and shaking his head. 

“Puberty and getting yer’ first boner, or your ma’ embarrassing you in public ain’t a horror story.” He held the door open for Hanzo, and entered the house behind the shorter male. 

“That is horrifyingly true.” Hanzo admitted with pause. They didn’t move much farther than the kitchen as Jesse figured out how to make the chili he planned on making. It ended up being chicken, that being the only substitute he had to make as the ingredients got prepared and shoved unceremoniously into a slow cooker. During the time the conversation was slow, Zenyatta taking a nap and Genji joining him. “They’re a cute couple, obvious, but cute.” was the only comment on the topic. One of the few times where the conversations didn’t run constant but the silence was just as welcoming. 

Night came all too quickly for Jesse’s liking. He had a few cups of coffee and mulled over the journals instead of taking a nap. Genji had gotten up, but it seems like Zen was about to have a long bit of sleep. It wasn’t bad, the three of them watched another, less horrifying Scream 1 before the news. The brothers went to sleep and McCree made the short trip up the stairs and entered the monk’s room hesitantly. It looked like it had last time he had entered, and he approached the bed and carefully shook the wiry form curled in a mass of blankets. 

“Its evenin’ Zen, it’s time to get up.” The monk didn’t move though, only rolled further into the blanket cocoon he had created for himself. Did Genji get any blanket? Jesse had tried a few more times before he decided he would just let Taku wake him up. Thinking back to the story, he stopped that train of thought. Maybe Isao would be a better choice for that considering he wouldn’t wake the nice man up with broken bones or something of that sort. 

Something appeared in front of him quickly and he suddenly halted before hands settled roughly onto his shoulders. “I don’t appreciate being left out of things Jesse McCree, what information do you need to tell us.” Isao seemed very short fused today, and Jesse rose his eyebrows. He tried to back away from the oni but had one hand go from his shoulder, knock his hat off, and the front of his shirt grabbed. “I am not playing your games tonight human,” he snarled, the second tone getting chest deep and rumbled. 

“Good mornin’ to you too,” the reply was nonchalant, at ease. He tried to play cool even though the demon could probably hear his heartbeat slowly accelerating. “It was just some info that I got from a real good investigator of mine. Says we have about a day till they arrive, mostly likely a night raid to keep the cover of night on their side. We’re preparing tomorrow, so if you have any ideas best say ‘em now.”

“I know tactics on how to defeat them easy on our land, give me the date of Hanzo’s death and i will gladly lend you my service.” 

“No thank you in that ca-,”

McCree’s whole body twitched as his back was slammed into the closet doors. The wood gave a groan of protest and a breath wheezed from Jesse as he looked up at the demon. “Quit playing these games you foolish cowboy. I have been patient enough with your silly banter, and I tire of it. There are a lot worse things I can do to you than you I.” The demon’s dual tone voice rose goosebumps on his arms and seemed to echo in his mind a second too long for him to feel comfortable with it. 

He glanced above the oni’s head, and the date flickered and twitched, switching between times quite often. He was debating options. “It doesn’t seem so partner, I’m seeing your date flicker quite badly.” Jesse said ominously and looked the oni dead in the eye. His own eyes were a dark crimson red. 

Thick silence permeated in the air and claws flexed into his shirt, tearing holes into the collar of the plaid, and the tips of the sharp claws tearing slow gashes down the center of his chest. The glowing eyes stared him right back, and he could feel every jack rabbiting beat of his heart. A snarl finally broke the tense silence, one that caused McCree to flinch before he was shoved back into the closet doors and left to barely catch himself. The oni had left the room and McCree sneered at the doorway before he sat himself onto the bed. 

“Jackass,” he hissed and unbuttoned his shirt to make sure the claws didn’t dig too far into his skin. It seems that it wasn’t the case, Isao got him good, and the deep gashes weeped blood. He gripped his shirt together and pressed it against the wounds to staunch them for now. 

There was a high pitched whistle, and Jesse narrowed his eyes and looked over in that direction and spotted the second oni of the night, walking down the hall. “Oh boy, you really pissed him off this time, he’s almost off the property already, and its my job to piss people off that much.” He obviously was jesting. 

“Zenyatta is asleep and I wasn’t able to wake him up, I’d suggest you try non-painful methods, and if that doesn’t work leave him be.”

“No, we need to get you healed up, he may have put neurotoxins in his claws without thinking twice.” Taku replied breezily and walked with no hesitance into Zenyatta’s room. He then proceeded to shout “Fire,” loud enough to make even Jesse cringe and cover his ears. 

Zenyatta jolted to a sit his eyes wide and when the oni went quiet, Jesse slapped him on the arm. “That’s not a nice way to wake someone.”

“It’s not violent.” 

“Touche,” Jesse then walked out of the doorway. 

“Clint Eastwood over there got Isao real mad, probably got neurotoxins, and needs a bit of healing.”

“Neurotoxins have already gotten in his system regardless, you’ll need to lay down for the rest of the night because in a few minutes you’ll be in paralysis.” Zenyatta summed up quickly, and a bit grumily as Jesse lead the way into his room. 

“He probably won’t be back for the rest of the evening, I’ll keep an eye out for him though.”

“I can’t tell the exact date for Genji or Hanzo, it’s the same for Gabriel. The curse affects everyday life, and in an instant your own body can kill you or save you so your dates change constantly. I can never get a solid read. I would have TOLD him that if he didn’t run off like wind.” Jesse groused and peeled back his shirt for Zenyatta. It was almost immediately pressed back on as they got a towel and laid it down on his bed before he laid down too. “How long will this paralysis shit last?”

“Hold this on the shirt, I’m sorry a shirt is ruined, but it doesn’t fix that sadly enough.” It was a heavy metal orb that the moment it touched his skin it started to glow faintly of a teal and gold and was pleasantly warm. “The Paralysis will last the whole night, but it won’t have any lasting effects. I would suggest taking off the prosthetic though to make sure it doesn’t mess with the programming. 

He did just that, the arm taking up a good amount of space on the new bedside table. “I’ll stop up every so often to make sure you’re okay, but try to sleep, okay?” Zenyatta seemed worried, and Jesse winked. 

“I’ll sleep for ya’, i bet Taku is relaying that little bit of info to his brother. Can you tell him the whole update from Sombra while i’m out of action?”

“Sure,” Zenyatta agreed, and Jesse closed his eyes. He could feel the paralysis creep through his limbs, but he was dozing off when he couldn’t move. 

Jesse had many years to get his payback.

And he should have taken his jeans off damn it.


	10. Chapter 10

The paralysis wore off sometime between five a.m and six a.m, and it had been as restless of a night as a person stuck in their bed could be restless. A nightmare, a past memory, one that felt like it could come alive more now than ever before. Some time in the evening Zenyatta had brought his hat back in and hung it on a bedpost. 

Six a.m and little sleep qualified for a cup of coffee and some guitar playing, something to distract him. Though the thought crossed his mind on planning out traps and where the sniper’s nest would be, but it didn’t seem as soothing as playing a guitar did in that particular moment of distress. Playing the guitar would be very familiar in this exact situation. 

He got up and gathered clothes to take a shower, and he didn’t stay under the spray for as long as he did yesterday, just enough to get himself clean. There was an itch to get moving, to do something, so he methodically put on his clothes and then his prosthetic. The pain shot up his arm, but much less severe than a few days ago. With this done he tossed his dirty clothes in the pile just on the inside of his bedroom door where the rest of his dirty clothes lay. 

Heading down the stairs, he turned into the kitchen without any hesitancy and started up the coffee pot, having prepared it for the morning as he was making chili the evening before. With the push of a button, the coffee was brewing, and he reached up to grab a fresh mug from the cabinets. As that brewed he walked into the living room and saw his guitar where he had placed it yesterday afternoon, leaning against the two seater chair. 

Slowly, he eased himself into the chair and picked the guitar back up, softling strumming it and hearing that the strings weren’t tampered with. 

Softly he started to pluck out a few notes at a time, eventually it started to turn out as the song he was aiming for. The comforting and familiar guitar of Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd bit by bit was played out from his fingers, carefully making sure he got the right notes, and starting over if he didn’t. Working out a song as he softly hummed the lyrics along with the instrument. 

A few stanzas of the intro got hashed out before he got up to retrieve his coffee. He sipped the coffee and set it on the coffee table before he continued to hum and hash out the song on guitar. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but his coffee was long gone and his fingers sore by the time he decided to take a break. 

“Maybe I should plan,” he muttered to himself and he set the guitar into a corner out of the way. His mug made it to the sink, and he slipped on his boots and walked into the front yard. The screen door protested this early in the morning, the humid air not being nice to the old metal. That could be fixed later, but what caught his attention was the methodical thud of something being hit, and a circle that was very out of place. 

Curious, he made a wide circle around the sudden target in the middle of the yard. What caught his eye was that Hanzo was up early, bow in hand, and several arrows lodged into the target, plenty of them near the center of it. 

“Damn, yer’ pretty handy with that bow.” He spoke up and gave a low whistle of appreciation. Hanzo gave him a side glance before sinking the arrow that was in his hand into the center of the target. 

“Thank you,” Hanzo replied and dropped the bow to his side. “Though I feel like I should be apologizing for Isao, since he won’t do it himself.” His gaze lingered on the target a few seconds longer before back at the archer. 

“It’s no worries, I will get an apology from him later. I jus’ hope he didn’t harm you while he was in town and i was in bed.” The last part had Hanzo widening his eyes. 

“He paralyzed you?” He slipped into his native tongue, cursing out the oni and shaking his head disapprovingly. 

“The whole night, would’a preferred to move around and avoid the nightmares that came about last night, but nothin’ to do about it now. Besides we hafta plan a few traps, maybe make a little sniper’s nest fer ya’ so you can take out some dudes who would stay by the car.”

“Take out their wheels for sure, strand them on this piece of land. I think the 911 call is a good idea too, because if you mention that its Deadlock or that they have weapons will bring them out here in minutes rather than hours.” They walked towards the target, and Hanzo started to pull the arrows from it, putting them back into the quiver. “That big maple tree right in the first line of trees, maybe have a few platforms so i’m not a sitting duck.”

“For sure for sure, a few boards, tethered to a few strong branches should be good enough, maybe some cross sections so you can pivot. It won’t be anythin’ too fancy. If they’re going to do this, i am willin’ to bet my family fortune on that there will a dozen men at most. I’m concerned that Zen doesn’t seem to keen on harmin’ people, but they may harm him back.” The concern was quickly dismissed

“He will if he has to, he’s proven that a few times, we should have some of the supplies and two-by-fours in the shed around back, at least enough to get the sniper’s walk way up. Is that enough though?” Hanzo’s eyebrows were pinched together and Jesse looked around the yard. 

“Did Isao do anything particular with his run in town, and did he get the message I bet Taku passed on?”

“That’s what kept him out for so long, but he’s calmer now after some time to roam. He’s mad you didn’t tell him sooner.”

“Oh boy, a big demon that paralyzed me and slammed me into a closet like i was a ragdoll, and he wonders why i didn’t mention anything sooner. He would have had a fit either way.” Jesse huffed and crossed his arm, goosebumps rising from how cold his metal arm was. 

“That is very true, if you want to get the wood, I’ll get in the trees and plan where the boards will go.” Hanzo offered and shoved the last arrow in the quiver, before pulling it off his shoulder and propping them against a tree. 

“Sounds like a swell idea, test this arm out a bit more.” Jesse said and smiled, headed in the direction that Hanzo pointed. “Do any of that jump out n’ scare me ninja shit and I’m gonna’ punch you.” There was a sharp bark of laughter and he couldn’t help but grin and roll his eyes. 

It was easy enough finding the supply shed and two seven foot 2x4 boards and one that was about three feet in length. He gathered those in his arms and picked it up with a soft grunt, carrying them back to the front of the yard and looked around for where the ninja would be up the trees. After a bit of searching he found Hanzo in a yellow leaved maple tree with a few birch trees close to it, only a few feet between each. “Combined there is about seventeen feet of board here, so wedge them where you want, because I am not a monkey that is for damn sure.” He couldn’t even climb even as a kid, he relied too much on his hands, and his grip was never strong enough. The other two boards sat on the ground waiting to be used. 

“Perfect, just hand them up, do you think one of the seven foot boards would reach both trees on either side of the maple?” The question had Jesse taking a few steps back. One tree was very obviously farther away than the other. 

“I’d say it wouldn’t, but the tree off to your left, my right has best coverage with other trees, so go with that if you want some cover.” He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the tree he was talking about. The faintest sounds of a car in rough condition, but it didn’t bother Jesse, those cars were around, but just didn’t expect one in these areas Now that he thought about it and that in itself roused Jesse’s suspicion.

“Those shots would be tricky to make, but the branches should be thin enough...” Hanzo pondered as he maneuvered the board so it was wedged between two branches twisted up in each other close to the trunk, a kick had it wedged in good. That comment effectively broke Jesse from his thoughts as he cast his gaze upwards again. “Can i get the next 7 foot one, i’ll position it backwards to get away from any frontal heavy fire.”

“Swell idea,” Jesse agreed and hoisted the next 7 footer up. “Should we position Genji on the other side? Try to hide from one and the other gets him.”

“I was thinking the same thing, but he wouldn’t need the platforms, he’s a monkey.” Hanzo said with a fond smile and struggled to get the board to get stuck.

“So we don’t need to worry too much for him then, but i’m a mite worried about the trees. Nothing we can do really but call the fire department. Hopefully the fire bastard is dead before he sets anything ablaze.”

“If we are an efficient team, then he absolutely will be at your mercy. A little bit of your soul soothed with a bit of revenge.” As he said this, Hanzo got the board wedged into the branches and started to test it out by walking on it with heavy footfalls, heavier than he probably would walk on those boards. There was tense silence, waiting for any snaps or slips of the boards or branches. Though after a handful of passes, it seems the board were secure. 

“Fantastic work there sugar,” Jesse chimed and grabbed the three foot board. “Do you want help with the target or nah?”

“I’ve got it,” Hanzo said confidently and headed back that way, Jesse headed the other way towards the shed. He was about half there when there was a buzz in his pocket, he pulled his phone open and flipped it open. 

7:42 a.m. : They’re early, ETA 10 minutes. Stay safe mi hermano.

The news froze Jesse in place and made his blood run cold, the loud roaring engine just down the mountain seemed to escalate in volume, for a moment he could focus on nothing but that noise. 

“We have company Hanzo!” Jesse shouted on the top of his lungs. He dropped the wood and headed back around the house towards the door. “I need ta’ get my gun, I’ll be out and in cover shortly.” He spoke up loudly before he went in the house. He didn’t waste time and ran through the kitchen and up the stairs. He burst through his bedroom door and grabbed his gun case. His holster was efficiently strapped on and spare ammo in the pouch close by.

“Less than a day, those bastards are impatient.” He snarled and went down the hall to Zen’s room. He knocked three times crisp and loudly. “They’ll be here in ten minutes, Zen best get ready.” He said loudly through the door and heard shuffling. 

That’s all he needed and headed down the stairs and rounded the corner and knocked on the closed door, warning Genji of the same. Unlike Zenyatta, the door swung open seconds after he said so. “Position yourself in the tree line on the side of the mailbox adjacent from your brother. Together you can pick off the people who go for cover.” Fast but light footsteps on the stairs. “Get yer’ weapon of choice and ring the police, I have time but i wouldn’t be detailed enough.”

“Easy enough, just get what you need to done Jesse,” Zenyatta soothed but was obviously feeling the sudden pressure as well. 

“Not even time to prepare,” Genji scoffed and pulled on more decent clothes. 

“Your brother and I got a few walkways for him to snipe, but otherwise we are caught bare handed on this one.” Jesse agreed and waited for Genji to slip on his shoes before they headed out the door. The younger Shimada was quick to place himself up in the trees across from his brother. Jesse loaded his six shooter and went into the woods closer to the road on Hanzo’s side. He crouched and tried to keep himself small and blend into the fall colors. At this angle if he got a good shot he could send a car into the lake across the road. 

The only way Jesse could tell time was passing was with the methodical slow breathing he forced himself to do as he looked down the sights of his pistol. His hands adjusted their grip again and again, but his finger never left the trigger. 

The rumble of old cars, obviously with engines…. And the whole car that had seen better days. They came tearing into view, and Jesse closed his left eye and let out a shot the moment the second car came into view. The rear left tire popped and shredded, the driver overcorrected and sent the car down the hill into the river embankment, but a third car was behind that one. 

“God damn, didn’t do a lick of good.” Distracted a few men if anything, but right now he had to move. Getting up from the spot, he stood up and backed farther into the wood, keeping his footfalls as quiet as possible, and his spurs didn’t help in the slightest. The cars pulled to the edge of the road, almost into the ditch. The brakes squealed and the rough running engines were cut off. Dirty, people piled out of them and immediately spread out, all of them in various states of tanning or burning. Their clothes were in disrepair. Jesse braced his back against a larger trunk and kept his gun at the ready. An underwhelming bunch, but never anyo to be underestimated.

“There was no need for that, that was quite rude Joel, or is it Jesse now?” A familiar reedy and taunting voice that stooped to a gravelly tenor voice at the end. “Now my men are in the drink, they probably needed that bath anyways.” The way he dismissed his men falling down a cliff and into the lake sent shivers up Jesse’s spine. It would be a while if they found those bastards climbing their way up the deep banks. His yammering wasn’t done though. 

“We just want to talk Joel, mama misses you so much.” The “so” was dragged out into a sneer as many sets of footfalls started through the wood and grass. “It’s been too long, it’s about time we have a family reunion she says, but it seems that you have replaced us, just down the street ain’t they, good thing a few people are visiting them, seeing how they’re doing. But now that just breaks my heart.” Furious twisted in Jesse gut at the news, Gabriel and Jack were in danger, they weren’t going to leave anything behind, and would leave destruction in their wake. 

God he forgot how much that Ian could go on, and the rambling only added fuel to the fire. Footsteps approached his left and he was quick to peek around the trunk and shot the guy in the chest, he collapsed to the ground in his own blood before Jesse came from around the tree and shot a young girl with her shotgun aimed up at him in the stomach. She dropped the weapon. 

“You left nice in the trash a few weeks ago when you took my arm you bastards, and today I’m going to make sure you get what you deserve.” He punctuated and looked in the vague direction that Ian was speaking from. Sirens so faintly wailed in the distance. He walked over and kicked the gun away from the girl. “Those who want to live best keep their hands off their weapons and give them up.” Their gazes met, instinctually his gaze went above her head, and once black numbers turned a bright red, years on her life. She took his warning he didn’t have time to consider it though before he was quickly off ducking away from pistol fire. 

“Suit yourself, if you have to lose a few limbs to be persuaded to go along with us than so be it lone wanderin’ coyote.” Jesse moved closer to the open and took cover behind a tree that wouldn’t give out Hanzo’s position. He glanced over to footsteps off to his left and saw an arrow lodged into the man’s throat the moment he came into view. 

“Surprise, I ain’t alone this time.” Jesse growled and broke from cover and shot at the first grungy Deadlock person he saw. A well aimed shot to the head, Jesse’s gaze seemed to magnify and sharpen, as the person fell between the cars, their head hitting the hood before their body fell to the ground. Though he could barely seen Genji, and only when he moved to a bare spot in the tree branches. Hanzo and Zenyatta on the other hand, were completely hidden from view, so he had to rely just on trust. It wasn’t too hard.

“They’re probably the rats in the trees, lets weed them out, light the situation up a bit.” He saw the faintest flicker of movement at the base of the trees across the yard and driveway. He was lighting up Genji’s side first. That would weed him out quickly and expose him for the gunners unless he went back around the house, but then that would expose Zen to them too. For a moment everything grew hazy, his sharp focus gave way to bright red numbers. Every head that came into view, their death date seared into his mind. Most of these men would die today, the cowards would live, that girl included. Ian had yet to come into his view, but Jesse knew in his gut that that bastard was going to die. 

“I learned one thing from Deadlock at least,” he muttered to himself and with the last bullets in his chamber shot out the tires on all the cars. Leave no easy means of escape. There the slow molasses moment where time seemed to stand still, before it was obvious they were done talking. That moment was just enough time for McCree to get done reloading and snap his chamber together as those familiar words echoed in his head even as the Deadlock heir said them. 

“Suit yourself,” Ian snarled and a cacophony of gunshots started to go off. It sounded just like his mother would say. A tree across the way was set ablaze, signalling Ian’s location. The four of them were easily outnumbered by over a dozen men. Jesse was wrong, He’s just getting to old for this, and it was obvious that things had changed. Deadlock was accepting anyone at this point, and that was obvious from how quickly five were picked off. 

Jesse rolled and was quick to move to different cover seeing how he was under a rain of bullets, nor did he waste time shooting people from the different vantage point. In the corner of his eye, he saw Genji retreating back slightly and climbing down. He was spotted, spicing things up would be his best option. Jesse held coverfire and shot a Deadlock goon down when they spotted Genji moving.

Another shot was lind up but dingged the side of one of the cars, the person just ducking into cover. “Slippery son ofa bitch.” He snarled and lined up a shot where he had disappeared. The shot got disrupted by a bullet smashing into his robotic arm, quickly followed by one in his knee. His hand went limp and the arm seized up into a still position. Colorful curses were pursed on his lips as he felt to one knee and twisted to the other side and lined up a shot already to see his body on the ground with shurikens sticking out of several weak points. 

Pain shot up his leg and he clenched his teeth as he glanced over at the spreading fire. “Shit,” they were picking the men off. 

“Any sights on the leader,” he spoke up to where Hanzo was, but a response wasn’t needed. A click of the gun against his head seemed to stun the world into a moment of adrenaline, fury, and utter silence. 

“Right here you clumsy motherfucker,” the voice showed his emotions so easily, sly, triumphant. “Your skills have dulled Jesse, now call off your friends and we can probably manage to keep the rest of your limbs intact. Just call off your friends and we can go about this peacefully.”

“You won’t make it in time to save yer’ mama,” Jesse said dryly, his eyes devoid of the spark it usually held. 

“I said call off your friends, and toss your weapon aside” Ian snarled and pointed the pistol and shot his knee again. Jesse couldn’t hold in the howl of pain that escaped his lips. The sirens grew closer and there was a desperation in those eyes. 

He hesitated, pain ceasing his whole body up for a moment as he clutched his gun, unable to staunch the wound. “Ceasefire,” he called out. “Stop where you are.” He knew zenyatta was in the back, a faint gold glow somewhere amidst the rest of the fiery orange. Jesse grabbed his peacekeeper, the weapon that has been with him on every one of his endeavors, and he tossed her aside till she hit the trunk of a far tree, a root swallowing it till it was only the end of the barrel and sigh that peeked out. The scrawny man seemed pleased at the action.

“What will kill mama, what will kill Delilah Deadlock?” Ian asked, his voice not giving away the desperation that gleamed in his eyes. Jesse couldn’t see what would kill a person, but they didn’t know that. They had been fooled by a dumb kid for so long, and they still believed it too. A harsh grin came to his face as he stared him right in the eyes. “You not bein’ there, you takin’ these men and not protecting the base. Its not impenetrable and the feds have been on your asses for a while. The feds were on Deadlock’s ass when he was in deadlock almost two decades ago. 

Those two decades didn’t age this guy the same age as him that well. His beard was patchy, pale hair thin, and his body malnourished and boney. 

“What will kill men, when will i die?” There was a flicker of movement in his periphery, but he didn’t break eye contact with Ian, his heart hammering as the gun was levelled with his chest. No bullshit this time. 

“Don’t worry your slippery little ass. If you can get past two bonafide ninjas I hired then you’re slippery enough to keep your ass alive. You have another decade or two on your head. Probably will be a natural death too, maybe your liver or lungs. All it says to me is cancer, better watch out.”

“Is that true now, don’t go bullshitting me.” Ian drew closer, the barrel pressed to his chest. 

“Pu-lease, did you ever peg me for a liar?” Jesse asked, the question and fury in those furious bright eyes, and the answer was on his lips. The hand was tensed in anger, heat radiating off that man. A gunshot interrupted the first word, and Jesse’s ears rang as blood rained down on him, as well as hard bits of skull and chunks of what he could only assume was brain. The body lurched forward before it was yanked down and back before it fell on Jesse.

There was Hanzo, splotches of grey creeping up on his features, teeth bared in a snarl and sharper than any normal human’s should be. Peacekeeper in his hand, an unknown amount of bullets in the chamber. Sirens blared in his ear, honks and tires scrambling for purchase on gravel as they breaked. 

“Can i get some help up?” Jesse asked and held up his good arm. A soft expression emerged from the hard anger, and instead of getting help up, Hanzo walked over and knelt beside him. For a moment they simply stared at each other, before Jesse’s gaze went to the dead body in front of them. 

“Never, do stupid shit like that, ever again.” Hanzo scolded, his voice firm, but wavered with worry as the grey receded. 

Instead of answering, Jesse grabbed Hanzo’s shirt and pulled him for a kiss. All the worry, anger, adrenaline drained into this one moment of euphoria. It was over, everything was done, and only when heavy footsteps approached behind them did Jesse pull away. Hanzo stared up at him stunned, and finally Jesse grinned. 

“How about that date?” He asked simply. Hanzo laughed before surging forward and kissing him back.


	11. Epilogue

It had been almost a week since the attack, everything squared away with the police, and the Deadlock goons gave their testimonies before being shuttled to prison for the rest of their lives. The thought of it left a sweet taste in Jesse’s mouth as well as a sour one. Those kids deserved a second chance but he knew there was no way in hell they were getting one. His second chance was a once in a lifetime thing. His arm was fixed, the fire didn’t spread too far due to the quick work of the firemen, and the bullets he took to the knee were healing splendidly despite the face he would have to wear a brace for a while longer. 

Despite all of that though, nothing could sour the day. Hanzo had accepted the offer, and they were going out on a date. The acceptance came with Hanzo’s cheeks growing very red, something a kiss to each of them didn’t cure much to his chagrin. It was taken in stride, and there was a notable difference in Isao’s attitude as well. He seemed a lot more subdued, ancored than previously. 

Those thoughts were all in the back of their heads now, as Jesse and Hanzo were back in his pickup, Hanzo idly listening to the radio, his leg jiggling at a jackrabbit’s pace. 

The date was a simple one, they weren’t dressed up, there was no fancy dinner plans, just a movie, and maybe dinner afterwards if they were hungry. Jesse doubted that would happen since they would probably fill themselves up on. No doubt that they’d probably get some candy to share as well, but with their opposing tastes, maybe not. 

“What ‘cha thinkin’ about sugar bean?” Jesse asked, turning the radio down as they made it to a stop, flicking on the turn signal to get on the main road. 

“Nothing of importance, don’t worry yourself.” Hanzo waved off the concern and glanced over at Jesse. 

“You ain’t nervous are ya’?” He asked as they made it onto smooth pavement. 

“Of course not,”

“Whatever you say darlin’, but jus’ try to relax a bit. It’s just a dumb lil’ comedy movie and possibly food afterwards.” Jumanji to be exact, after all the mushy romance or corny horror movies, they needed a change, and the new movie would supply that. Action and Comedy where could you go wrong?

Hanzo planted his foot firmly onto the mat floor and huffed. He looked away, his sweetpea couldn’t fool a blind man, it was obvious that he was nervous. Though Jesse didn’t push the envelope, instead they made quick work of driving to the cinema. A large tub of popcorn, a shared soda, and an argument over candy later, they were both settled into the recliner seats. Jesse didn’t hesitate to move the armrest separating them, and shoved the popcorn in the middle. 

“No, no that isn’t going to happen.” Hanzo tutted as he adjusted his own seat. Dumbfounded, Jesse raised his eyebrow in silent question as the beautiful man beside him plopped the bowl of popcorn onto his lap. Yet he didn’t move, even with the fact they were utterly alone, every attempt to get the popcorn off his lap resulted in it being back on his lap. 

When the lights dimmed Hanzo pulled the popcorn from Jesse’s lap and scooted over, having the popcorn on the opposite side of him as Hanzo cuddled into Jesse. The cowboy couldn’t help a goofy grin as he leaned down and pecked Hanzo on the lips. 

“Never pegged you for shy honeysuckle.”

“It’s not the same if you aren’t keeping me warm, this movie theatre is frigid.” Hanzo grouced and grabbed some popcorn. 

“Is that why you cuddle into me on the couch, only for my body heat?”

“Among other things,” Hanzo added contently as Jesse slipped his flesh arm around him and held the archer close. 

“Your going to have to put the popcorn in our laps though, i can’t eat any.”

“More for me then,” he replied and ate more to emphasize the point. 

The conversation was cut short though as trailers for new movies came on, and the featured presentation started. 

After the first twenty minutes of the movie, both of them were laughing their asses off. Hanzo tried many times to stifle the snort that came with his laughs, and that sweet laughed made Jesse laugh even harder than the original joke. 

Somewhere in the middle of the movie Hanzo had wheezed breathlessly, “maybe there will be a second date.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I truly appreciate it!


End file.
